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August 6, 2006
Will the Government Take Your Home?
Across the country, Americans fight to protect their property.
Parade Magazine
By Sean Flynn
A year after the Supreme Court ruled that taking private property for private development in order to increase municipal tax revenue is legal, residents in Norwood, OH won their fight in the Ohio State Supreme Court to save their homes, and residents in Long Branch, NJ are gearing up for a battle with the town.
In each city, the process unfolded almost identically: A private developer, with the government’s backing, wanted a big piece of property—cliff-side homes with valley views in Lakewood, ocean-front cottages in Long Branch—and tried to negotiate deals with each owner. When some refused to sell, the cities threatened to invoke eminent domain to clear the holdouts.
In order to do that, however, city officials first needed to declare the neighborhoods “blighted.” But the legal designation of “blight” bears little resemblance to a commonsense definition. In Lakewood, for example, Scenic Park is a charming neighborhood of older, well-kept homes. But because they lack such modern touches as attached two-car garages and central air-conditioning, the city deemed them blighted—a standard by which more than 80 percent of Lakewood, even the former mayor’s home, would likewise be blighted.
“We always bit on the word ‘blight,’” says Julie Wiltse, 63, who helped neighbors distribute 20,000 fliers and sponsor a series of blight events: a Blighted Block Party, a Blighted Chili Cook-off, even a Blighted Groundhog Day (which predicted four more months of blight). TV cameras and newspaper reporters loved that stuff.
Read about what residents are doing to save their homes and what you can do to insure that it doesn't happen to you.
Posted by lumi at August 6, 2006 1:59 PM