Eminent Domain

Photo Archive Google Earth Google MapsIt's been a long time since I took any pictures for my Eminent Domain photo essay series, but my contact with the IJ a few months ago got me energized to do some more shooting. I was up in Wisconsin around that time, and while I was there I stopped by Hartung Quarry, which is the site of an emerging eminent domain story.Here's … [Read more...] about Hartung Quarry Landfill

Radley Balko says this: In Tacoma, Washington, the "Sound Transit," a government agency, offered a landowner $439,000 for a piece of property in 2004. Finding the offer low, the landowner sued, and eventually lost in the State Supreme Court. Now, the Sound Transit is offering just $240,000, citing a "reassessment" of the property's value. That's about half what the same agency … [Read more...] about The Value of Land Under Eminent Domain

One year ago today, the U.S. Supreme court ruled on the Kelo decision, confirming that governments could use their eminent domain powers to take private property and hand it over to private developers for private use. All that was needed was the thinnest of public use justifications, such as that the new owners would use the property in a way which generated greater tax … [Read more...] about Opening the Floodgates

Thanks to Marathon Pundit for linking again to my eminent domain articles. Meanwhile, Brian Nadig is reporting in Chicago's Northwest Side Press that Chicago's Department of Planning and Development is revising the plan for development around the Sportif Importer bike shop. Instead of one big condo building, they're talking about two smaller buildings on either side of the … [Read more...] about Bits of News

Photo Archive Google Earth Google MapsA few weeks ago, I started what I hope will be a continuing series of photoessays on eminent domain abuse. You might want to check out my first essay on the Sportif bike shop in Chicago, Illinois.Another local target of post-Kelo eminent domain abuse (and also pre-Kelo eminent domain abuse, I might add) is the International … [Read more...] about International Plaza