The Kelo decision:Properties were seized and a neighborhood razed in the name of ‘economic development’ that never came
21 Replies to “The World Is Being Run By Crazy People”
I recall following this story at the time. Liberal lies by thieving lying liberals.
As for Howard Dean … someday he’ll get locked up.
“Properties were seized” is incorrect. HOMES were seized and the owners evicted, which is something that formerly only happened in socialist countries. The houses were of little value so the ‘fair’ market value the owners were given as compensation could not purchase a new house. Homeowners became mortgage payers and renters again. The supreme court justices who assented to this should be hung from lamp posts.
Worst SCOTUS ever. In addition to the legal insult, I found this part appalling:
“The Italian Dramatic Club got to stay [a private social club for eastern Connecticut’s political elite], but all the Italians had to go,” Scott Bullock, the lead lawyer from the Institute for Justice in the Kelo case, said in a telephone interview. “These people weren’t NIMBY people. They said: We need redevelopment, but we just want to be part of it. It would have been easy just to incorporate what was already there. They could have built around them. Those properties were on tiny lots—one and a half acres in total in two small sections of 90 acres. That’s the trend these days: infill. In the old days you tore down everything, but then planners recognized: Let’s not destroy history. Let’s blend the old with the new. Why did New London stick to the old model? The answer is: They wanted something big and grand.”
The whole thing was unnecessary since they could have developed the property without removing the 1.5 acres of existing property. No need for eminent domain or trampling on the individual rights and property rights. The fact that they left the political elite’s club indicates that snobbery was a part of it, it was not solely about economic gain. “Those” people had to be removed so the “right” people would not have to rub elbows with the working/lower class.
Whenever you relinquish a little power to the government, you welcome a little more loss of freedom. Eventually you get a monster like the EPA or abuse of the 5th amendment. The road to socialism and cronyism should be mined with IED’s, not paved by apathetic voters, but ignorance equals government bliss and never ending bureaucratic power trips. We get what we vote for and ….ooh….look……Justin Bieber….
So much for property rights. Its pretty obvious by now America has stopped being a Democracy for a long time. It was the best experiment in human government ever devised. It now rots on the corpse of self interested politicians who feel no fealty to a Constitution they have abandoned for special interests.
By judicial fiat, these entitled groups have destroyed any liberty for cash.
So much for an example to the World of freedom.
No, the U.S.A. is more than ever a democracy. It has become much less of a republic.
America was never a democracy; it was conceived of as a Republic, which is not the same thing.
Look on the bright side, now there’s a place for FEMA to build one of those rumoured super-prisons for dissenters. Although I have a different name that I use for dissenters, it’s white folk with guns.
The situation is far worse in Canada. On a daily basis, provincial and municipal governments acquire de facto ownership of private lands “for the public good” without paying one red cent of compensation.
At least in the Kelo decision, as stupid as it was, she WAS compensated. And, as the article notes, many state legislatures have enacted legislation to stop these property robberies.
As The Chopping Blog over at the CLA site has noted, most provincial legislation contains “No Remedy” clauses that effectively tells landowners they can go get stuffed if they think they are owed compensation for lands that are stolen by government. http://canadianlandowneralliance.blogspot.ca/2014/02/a-lesson-in-canadian-property-rights.html
The Conservatives – on both federal and provincial levels – have lied and ducked on this issue. Notwithstanding that Harper promised effective property rights legislation in 2006, and the Ontario PC’s constitution commits to property rights legislation, both Harper and Hudak run for cover every time the issue is brought up.
They want my vote, but they won’t commit to giving me a fundamental right in return They can go screw themselves.
I’d like to see some specifics regarding your claim. We had a situation in my city where the government appropriated private property for two projects – one municipal and one federal. Every homeowner wound up making out very well.
Of course in some cases they had to relinquish their long-time home, but they were more than fairly compensated considering the homes in question were all very, very old and not “hot” properties by any means.
Regarding your last point. I haven’t seen a political party of any stripe in Canada looking to entrench property rights. Please cite the promise Mr. Harper made on the issue. I don’t recall that.
Are you kidding? You’re not aware of properties being “acquired” by provincial and municipal governments by environmental legislation? Where have you been?
Tell you what. Go to http://landownermagazine.com/website/ and read up on how the Ontario Government has been stealing private lands for at least a decade without enduring the inconvenience of paying for it.
And, as for your second request, you go and dig up some of Harper’s campaign literature and go through his speeches from the 2006 election.
Right you are Jamie. Up here, when government sets an avaricious eye on a piece of private property, they first devalue it via regulatory interference through the land-use planning act and restrictive zoning. This limits the legal uses for the property and potential buyers evaporate like piss on hot asphalt. In desperation, the owner off-loads at 5 cents on the dollar to an “arms length” NGO like a Conservation Authority, Ducks Unlimited, Nature Conservancy, Friends of the Greenbelt, Suzuki Foundation, etc. etc. Miraculously, after a seemly waiting period, the rules change and the land is suitable for development again! Such an improvement over the Ottawa NCC Greenbelt Swindle, because this way, they don’t even have to expropriate at fair market value! Just lookin’ out for the interests of the taxpayer, no doubt.
Just wait until you have a loggerhead shrike on or near your property; just wait until the land you own is deemed a wetlands; just wait until your government wants your land to expand a military training facility; just wait until you want to clear out the ditches on your back forty; just wait until you try to build on your waterfront land – THEN you’ll find out about your lack of property rights in Canada.
The Liberals and NDP shudder at the thought of property rights in this country. Conservatives here pretend they’ll give us property rights legislation, while blowing smoke up our arses.
Amazing that 40 states in the USA leapt to change their own legislation after Kelo, passing laws that banned or restricted the use of eminent domain for the purpose of economic rejuvenation. Here we get the excuse that giving us real property rights would involve “opening up the Constitution” – apparently an action akin to arming a nuclear warhead, to hear a politician talk.
The governments could pass new legislation to give us our property rights if they truly wanted to. So far: crickets.
Truly THE biggest disappointment with the Harper conservatives is how the issue of property rights has disappeared right off their radar. Vanished POOF!
8 years ago, when rural Ontario dug in and worked to get them elected, we had so much “hope” of finally obtaining our property rights…and after 8 years we are no closer than we were then.
WTF??? Is so scary about people having the right to enjoy what they pay for?
Hey Sporty, why don’t you cruise down to Caledonia and check out the Douglas Creek Estates? That would be the entire housing subdivision that got stolen by the Indians and then expropriated by the government. Because kicking the thieves off in living colour on CBC would look bad.
That one cost you twenty million bucks, Sporty baby. Maybe you should phone up Stevie Harper and start yelling you want your property rights back.
The Glengarian said: “8 years ago, when rural Ontario dug in and worked to get them elected, we had so much “hope” of finally obtaining our property rights…and after 8 years we are no closer than we were then.”
Yeah, but we’re no farther away… hey, Justin Bieber!
Yes, its the Justin Bieber distraction program, now not just for Liberals!
Put not your faith in politicians, but in your strong right arm. We get our property rights when politicians are really afraid what will happen if we don’t.
Maybe if all the freakin’ earwigs like Sporty start in making a ruckus like we all did, some politicians will get scared.
I’m fed up with the so called “Conservatives”. My vote isn’t guaranteed. I will stay home on election day until they give us property rights.
Staying home is like voting Lib or NDP. I would go the other direction and try to mobilize every one you can. Only if Harper gets a true majority will we ever see what he’s really capable of. We may be disappointed but at least we’ll know.
So who would now want to buy property in New London? Would anyone be foolish enough to buy a house there ever again?
I recall following this story at the time. Liberal lies by thieving lying liberals.
As for Howard Dean … someday he’ll get locked up.
“Properties were seized” is incorrect. HOMES were seized and the owners evicted, which is something that formerly only happened in socialist countries. The houses were of little value so the ‘fair’ market value the owners were given as compensation could not purchase a new house. Homeowners became mortgage payers and renters again. The supreme court justices who assented to this should be hung from lamp posts.
Worst SCOTUS ever. In addition to the legal insult, I found this part appalling:
“The Italian Dramatic Club got to stay [a private social club for eastern Connecticut’s political elite], but all the Italians had to go,” Scott Bullock, the lead lawyer from the Institute for Justice in the Kelo case, said in a telephone interview. “These people weren’t NIMBY people. They said: We need redevelopment, but we just want to be part of it. It would have been easy just to incorporate what was already there. They could have built around them. Those properties were on tiny lots—one and a half acres in total in two small sections of 90 acres. That’s the trend these days: infill. In the old days you tore down everything, but then planners recognized: Let’s not destroy history. Let’s blend the old with the new. Why did New London stick to the old model? The answer is: They wanted something big and grand.”
The whole thing was unnecessary since they could have developed the property without removing the 1.5 acres of existing property. No need for eminent domain or trampling on the individual rights and property rights. The fact that they left the political elite’s club indicates that snobbery was a part of it, it was not solely about economic gain. “Those” people had to be removed so the “right” people would not have to rub elbows with the working/lower class.
Whenever you relinquish a little power to the government, you welcome a little more loss of freedom. Eventually you get a monster like the EPA or abuse of the 5th amendment. The road to socialism and cronyism should be mined with IED’s, not paved by apathetic voters, but ignorance equals government bliss and never ending bureaucratic power trips. We get what we vote for and ….ooh….look……Justin Bieber….
So much for property rights. Its pretty obvious by now America has stopped being a Democracy for a long time. It was the best experiment in human government ever devised. It now rots on the corpse of self interested politicians who feel no fealty to a Constitution they have abandoned for special interests.
By judicial fiat, these entitled groups have destroyed any liberty for cash.
So much for an example to the World of freedom.
No, the U.S.A. is more than ever a democracy. It has become much less of a republic.
America was never a democracy; it was conceived of as a Republic, which is not the same thing.
Look on the bright side, now there’s a place for FEMA to build one of those rumoured super-prisons for dissenters. Although I have a different name that I use for dissenters, it’s white folk with guns.
The situation is far worse in Canada. On a daily basis, provincial and municipal governments acquire de facto ownership of private lands “for the public good” without paying one red cent of compensation.
At least in the Kelo decision, as stupid as it was, she WAS compensated. And, as the article notes, many state legislatures have enacted legislation to stop these property robberies.
As The Chopping Blog over at the CLA site has noted, most provincial legislation contains “No Remedy” clauses that effectively tells landowners they can go get stuffed if they think they are owed compensation for lands that are stolen by government.
http://canadianlandowneralliance.blogspot.ca/2014/02/a-lesson-in-canadian-property-rights.html
The Conservatives – on both federal and provincial levels – have lied and ducked on this issue. Notwithstanding that Harper promised effective property rights legislation in 2006, and the Ontario PC’s constitution commits to property rights legislation, both Harper and Hudak run for cover every time the issue is brought up.
They want my vote, but they won’t commit to giving me a fundamental right in return They can go screw themselves.
I’d like to see some specifics regarding your claim. We had a situation in my city where the government appropriated private property for two projects – one municipal and one federal. Every homeowner wound up making out very well.
Of course in some cases they had to relinquish their long-time home, but they were more than fairly compensated considering the homes in question were all very, very old and not “hot” properties by any means.
Regarding your last point. I haven’t seen a political party of any stripe in Canada looking to entrench property rights. Please cite the promise Mr. Harper made on the issue. I don’t recall that.
Are you kidding? You’re not aware of properties being “acquired” by provincial and municipal governments by environmental legislation? Where have you been?
Tell you what. Go to http://landownermagazine.com/website/ and read up on how the Ontario Government has been stealing private lands for at least a decade without enduring the inconvenience of paying for it.
And, as for your second request, you go and dig up some of Harper’s campaign literature and go through his speeches from the 2006 election.
Right you are Jamie. Up here, when government sets an avaricious eye on a piece of private property, they first devalue it via regulatory interference through the land-use planning act and restrictive zoning. This limits the legal uses for the property and potential buyers evaporate like piss on hot asphalt. In desperation, the owner off-loads at 5 cents on the dollar to an “arms length” NGO like a Conservation Authority, Ducks Unlimited, Nature Conservancy, Friends of the Greenbelt, Suzuki Foundation, etc. etc. Miraculously, after a seemly waiting period, the rules change and the land is suitable for development again! Such an improvement over the Ottawa NCC Greenbelt Swindle, because this way, they don’t even have to expropriate at fair market value! Just lookin’ out for the interests of the taxpayer, no doubt.
Just wait until you have a loggerhead shrike on or near your property; just wait until the land you own is deemed a wetlands; just wait until your government wants your land to expand a military training facility; just wait until you want to clear out the ditches on your back forty; just wait until you try to build on your waterfront land – THEN you’ll find out about your lack of property rights in Canada.
The Liberals and NDP shudder at the thought of property rights in this country. Conservatives here pretend they’ll give us property rights legislation, while blowing smoke up our arses.
Amazing that 40 states in the USA leapt to change their own legislation after Kelo, passing laws that banned or restricted the use of eminent domain for the purpose of economic rejuvenation. Here we get the excuse that giving us real property rights would involve “opening up the Constitution” – apparently an action akin to arming a nuclear warhead, to hear a politician talk.
The governments could pass new legislation to give us our property rights if they truly wanted to. So far: crickets.
Sporty, this should interest you, regarding PM Harper and property rights:
http://westernstandard.blogs.com/shotgun/2006/01/liberal_party_q.html
And if that still doesn’t satisfy you, here is the 2006 election platform. Note number 43.
http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes2006/leadersparties/pdf/conservative_platform20060113.pdf
Truly THE biggest disappointment with the Harper conservatives is how the issue of property rights has disappeared right off their radar. Vanished POOF!
8 years ago, when rural Ontario dug in and worked to get them elected, we had so much “hope” of finally obtaining our property rights…and after 8 years we are no closer than we were then.
WTF??? Is so scary about people having the right to enjoy what they pay for?
Hey Sporty, why don’t you cruise down to Caledonia and check out the Douglas Creek Estates? That would be the entire housing subdivision that got stolen by the Indians and then expropriated by the government. Because kicking the thieves off in living colour on CBC would look bad.
That one cost you twenty million bucks, Sporty baby. Maybe you should phone up Stevie Harper and start yelling you want your property rights back.
The Glengarian said: “8 years ago, when rural Ontario dug in and worked to get them elected, we had so much “hope” of finally obtaining our property rights…and after 8 years we are no closer than we were then.”
Yeah, but we’re no farther away… hey, Justin Bieber!
Yes, its the Justin Bieber distraction program, now not just for Liberals!
Put not your faith in politicians, but in your strong right arm. We get our property rights when politicians are really afraid what will happen if we don’t.
Maybe if all the freakin’ earwigs like Sporty start in making a ruckus like we all did, some politicians will get scared.
I’m fed up with the so called “Conservatives”. My vote isn’t guaranteed. I will stay home on election day until they give us property rights.
Staying home is like voting Lib or NDP. I would go the other direction and try to mobilize every one you can. Only if Harper gets a true majority will we ever see what he’s really capable of. We may be disappointed but at least we’ll know.
So who would now want to buy property in New London? Would anyone be foolish enough to buy a house there ever again?