chelidon: (Pan Mardi Gras)
[personal profile] chelidon
Pay attention to this one if you're a property owner, or may be someday. What it essentially says is that your local government can seize your property at any time, for any reason they deem sufficient, including because a developer wants what you have. Aside from the injustice issues (and I agree with O'Conner in her dissent), this makes it all the more important to pick a place to live where you trust your local government, if at all possible.

Full story: High court OKs personal property seizures (subhed: Majority: Local officials know how best to help cities)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- -- The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses -- even against their will -- for private economic development.

It was a decision fraught with huge implications for a country with many areas, particularly the rapidly growing urban and suburban areas, facing countervailing pressures of development and property ownership rights.

The 5-4 ruling represented a defeat for some Connecticut residents whose homes are slated for destruction to make room for an office complex. They argued that cities have no right to take their land except for projects with a clear public use, such as roads or schools, or to revitalize blighted areas.

As a result, cities have wide power to bulldoze residences for projects such as shopping malls and hotel complexes to generate tax revenue.

Date: 2005-06-23 04:32 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] chelidon.livejournal.com
As long as they could convince the local government that what they wanted to do was "in the city's best interest," you are correct. And I've participated in enough zoning battles to know first-hand that a lot of local city councils rubber-stamp the projects of whomever comes to them offering the most money.

Date: 2005-06-23 10:59 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kitten-goddess.livejournal.com
Gee...all they have to do is say the magic words.."property values."

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