Eminent Domain Spells Imminent Disaster For Us All.
For weeks, I’ve been saying that the New Orleans debacle is suspicious. U.S. Representative Maxine Waters echoed my sentiments a few days later. Now, others are beginning to take notice, it seems in articles around the nation on the suspicion of the matter.
As one for instance, as it appeared in John Stilgoe’s September 25th piece, Rethinking Eminent Domain in the Boston.com, your connection to the Boston Globe:
Hurricanes blight neighborhoods, and even entire regions. The south-of-Boston region is vulnerable to hurricanes, and might ask its legislators and congressman to restructure eminent domain laws to prevent post-hurricane chicanery.
Many other pieces are speaking to the issue of abuse.
As I wrote, the chain of events is too fortuitous for me to believe it was purely a calamity. It was more of a calamity waiting to happen. Here’s how.
1. Hurricane moves over a city and county with preparedness plans, which went awry, or in fact didn’t even move out anywhere. Planning was not carried out. At the request of the President, Governor Blanco was urged to authorize Federal Assistance, which is not permitted without being summoned. She delayed, then wished to atone with community service. That delay was an error in judgment that was very, very expensive and didn’t need to be.
2. As a result, large areas of acreage were inundated, not merely with water, but with sewage, filled with dangerous bacteria. The area then became unsafe for human habitation, for an uncertain period of time, but which required cleanup. Even though there are no reports I can find on the subject of illness resulting from the sewage, it will be regarded as dangerous and in need of cleanup, I'm sure.
3. Homeowners are probably unable to make their house payments, and for what, as loans and liens may fall into default and possible foreclosure. The weeks ahead will tell. With the land so blighted, it could be had for a song, and many are auditioning.
4. Enter the Large Corporations, who donated hundreds of millions of dollars, more than enough to satisfy a court on the question of just compensation, if anyone wanted to buy the obviously blighted land under eminent domain.
5. Now there is talk of relocation. This would complete the picture, as eminent domain can be pleaded since just about anyone can take land -- that land, for instance -- and do more with it than the present owners. Let’s see if a Czar is named and the land reconveyed to those who can make better use of it.
And what if it is?
In Alaska, the homeowners get a rebate from the oil company for the taking of oil there. Not a bad idea, that sort of compromise. It’s a win-win.
I wonder if they might do the same in Louisiana. My fear is that the just compensation quite possibly decided in light of the handy large corporate donations won’t ever reach the homeowners, and go largely to cleanup and so-called community good, everything around the families, but nothing to the families, do you follow me? The fair market value pre-Katrina was genuinely worth something; post-Katrina, the fair market value is more like $50 an acre. Who knows?
If the homeowners must be relocated – a euphemism for land grab as much as looting was a euphemism for rampant robbery, mayhem, rape and murder – I’d like to see that just compensation paid as much to the homeowners in perpetuity for the transfer of title of their land, paid to them directly, as might be paid to the lienholders, local cleanup and rehabilitation and etc. A separate term in the ultimate decree could be that the reconveyance of the property – if they must – be a short sell deal to satisfy the lienholders, but that in perpetuity be the order of the day for the homeowners. How about, say, the equivalent of their current house payment per month in perpetuity? You can send the money to them beginning with filing under eminent domain before any transfer of title and maintain a database of their mailing address from now on. You can noodle it out.
If you’re going to eventually take their land – and I suspect that they will – the homeowners have to get something directly not on a lump sum, but in perpetuity eas easily as if they might wish to hand that down to their heirs their regular title market value. The value of the property could then be recognized through monthly payments.
It could be that there’s no other way out for them. Talk about your reparations, it might be great if those households could get a rebate in perpetuity better than the promise of a few acres and a mule.
And who picks up the check? Well, who picks up the check for increased costs in the private sector? The customer, of course. And who picks up the costs of government largess? The taxpayer, of course. Either way, we're cooked, so the folks in Louisiana, our fellow Americans, might as well get some of that, because they are of the same ownership culture we are, an aspect of the Liberty culture, and that's as it should be.
The key is to prevent it from happening again. This should not be a land grab it could be for pennies on the dollar when possible negligence or such mysterious serendipity is involved.
More and more are coming to suspect the possible abuse of eminent domain throughout the nation. Just Google eminent domain and see what you pull up in what’s going on. Cities everywhere are at odds with their constituents who don’t want to surrender their properties to somebody else’s idea of what they can do with it as those very cities are making a move on those properties. Surprise, surprise!
I wonder when they will come to believe that it’s all just too serendipitous to be an accident. Some believe that it’s not an accident, but intelligent design, if you know what I mean. We ought to look at that. Others, like me, believe that it’s something they permitted, that kind of I-didn’t-cause-it sort of neglect that eventually works out for some predatory opportunism. All you need is a little patience. This time it pays off?
We can't stop eminent domain today, but we can elect how to soften the blow for our fellow Americans. Then, we stop eminent domain and limit it to much more reasonable cases.
Oh, and we do elect to punish officials for their delays, their carelessness and their greed in this matter.
Either way, there’s a tremendous windfall in this landfill scenario, as officials always manage to extract some gain from the feds in such disasters, some of that chicanery the Boston Globe mentioned.
You see, friends, the folks in New Orleans have their wealth, too. They’re just like the rest of America when you know that wealth is not money, it’s your home, your mementos, your loved ones, your refuge and reward there. In this, we are all threatened when some of us are deceived this way, and the record of articles addressing the subject nationwide tells the story: eminent domain spells imminent disaster for us all.
________________________________
John Longenecker is author of The Battle We Fight - Battling Potomac Fever To Recapture Our Homes And Communities available at all booksellers.
As one for instance, as it appeared in John Stilgoe’s September 25th piece, Rethinking Eminent Domain in the Boston.com, your connection to the Boston Globe:
Hurricanes blight neighborhoods, and even entire regions. The south-of-Boston region is vulnerable to hurricanes, and might ask its legislators and congressman to restructure eminent domain laws to prevent post-hurricane chicanery.
Many other pieces are speaking to the issue of abuse.
As I wrote, the chain of events is too fortuitous for me to believe it was purely a calamity. It was more of a calamity waiting to happen. Here’s how.
1. Hurricane moves over a city and county with preparedness plans, which went awry, or in fact didn’t even move out anywhere. Planning was not carried out. At the request of the President, Governor Blanco was urged to authorize Federal Assistance, which is not permitted without being summoned. She delayed, then wished to atone with community service. That delay was an error in judgment that was very, very expensive and didn’t need to be.
2. As a result, large areas of acreage were inundated, not merely with water, but with sewage, filled with dangerous bacteria. The area then became unsafe for human habitation, for an uncertain period of time, but which required cleanup. Even though there are no reports I can find on the subject of illness resulting from the sewage, it will be regarded as dangerous and in need of cleanup, I'm sure.
3. Homeowners are probably unable to make their house payments, and for what, as loans and liens may fall into default and possible foreclosure. The weeks ahead will tell. With the land so blighted, it could be had for a song, and many are auditioning.
4. Enter the Large Corporations, who donated hundreds of millions of dollars, more than enough to satisfy a court on the question of just compensation, if anyone wanted to buy the obviously blighted land under eminent domain.
5. Now there is talk of relocation. This would complete the picture, as eminent domain can be pleaded since just about anyone can take land -- that land, for instance -- and do more with it than the present owners. Let’s see if a Czar is named and the land reconveyed to those who can make better use of it.
And what if it is?
In Alaska, the homeowners get a rebate from the oil company for the taking of oil there. Not a bad idea, that sort of compromise. It’s a win-win.
I wonder if they might do the same in Louisiana. My fear is that the just compensation quite possibly decided in light of the handy large corporate donations won’t ever reach the homeowners, and go largely to cleanup and so-called community good, everything around the families, but nothing to the families, do you follow me? The fair market value pre-Katrina was genuinely worth something; post-Katrina, the fair market value is more like $50 an acre. Who knows?
If the homeowners must be relocated – a euphemism for land grab as much as looting was a euphemism for rampant robbery, mayhem, rape and murder – I’d like to see that just compensation paid as much to the homeowners in perpetuity for the transfer of title of their land, paid to them directly, as might be paid to the lienholders, local cleanup and rehabilitation and etc. A separate term in the ultimate decree could be that the reconveyance of the property – if they must – be a short sell deal to satisfy the lienholders, but that in perpetuity be the order of the day for the homeowners. How about, say, the equivalent of their current house payment per month in perpetuity? You can send the money to them beginning with filing under eminent domain before any transfer of title and maintain a database of their mailing address from now on. You can noodle it out.
If you’re going to eventually take their land – and I suspect that they will – the homeowners have to get something directly not on a lump sum, but in perpetuity eas easily as if they might wish to hand that down to their heirs their regular title market value. The value of the property could then be recognized through monthly payments.
It could be that there’s no other way out for them. Talk about your reparations, it might be great if those households could get a rebate in perpetuity better than the promise of a few acres and a mule.
And who picks up the check? Well, who picks up the check for increased costs in the private sector? The customer, of course. And who picks up the costs of government largess? The taxpayer, of course. Either way, we're cooked, so the folks in Louisiana, our fellow Americans, might as well get some of that, because they are of the same ownership culture we are, an aspect of the Liberty culture, and that's as it should be.
The key is to prevent it from happening again. This should not be a land grab it could be for pennies on the dollar when possible negligence or such mysterious serendipity is involved.
More and more are coming to suspect the possible abuse of eminent domain throughout the nation. Just Google eminent domain and see what you pull up in what’s going on. Cities everywhere are at odds with their constituents who don’t want to surrender their properties to somebody else’s idea of what they can do with it as those very cities are making a move on those properties. Surprise, surprise!
I wonder when they will come to believe that it’s all just too serendipitous to be an accident. Some believe that it’s not an accident, but intelligent design, if you know what I mean. We ought to look at that. Others, like me, believe that it’s something they permitted, that kind of I-didn’t-cause-it sort of neglect that eventually works out for some predatory opportunism. All you need is a little patience. This time it pays off?
We can't stop eminent domain today, but we can elect how to soften the blow for our fellow Americans. Then, we stop eminent domain and limit it to much more reasonable cases.
Oh, and we do elect to punish officials for their delays, their carelessness and their greed in this matter.
Either way, there’s a tremendous windfall in this landfill scenario, as officials always manage to extract some gain from the feds in such disasters, some of that chicanery the Boston Globe mentioned.
You see, friends, the folks in New Orleans have their wealth, too. They’re just like the rest of America when you know that wealth is not money, it’s your home, your mementos, your loved ones, your refuge and reward there. In this, we are all threatened when some of us are deceived this way, and the record of articles addressing the subject nationwide tells the story: eminent domain spells imminent disaster for us all.
________________________________
John Longenecker is author of The Battle We Fight - Battling Potomac Fever To Recapture Our Homes And Communities available at all booksellers.
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