• [ network ]
  • goatmatrix.net
  • gvid.tv
  • img.gvid.tv
  • games.gvid.tv
  • apps.gvid.tv
HomeUploadUpload DirectHotlinkRandomAbouttheme toggle
Expand

Gov’t Wants to Bulldoze Retiree’s 50-year Family Home

Views:960
@IJvids

http://www.ij.org/donate

West Haven, Connecticut has always been home for Bob McGinnity. He grew up there and his childhood home remained his base during his time in the U.S. Navy and his career as a conductor for Amtrak. He lives in that home today, enjoying his long-awaited retirement. Bob remodeled the home and his uncle, Michael Perrone, lives in the unit below him. Living so close has been invaluable since his uncle’s recent stroke and heart attack. It allows Bob to help care for his uncle, who gets to stay in his home to recover.

This ideal arrangement, however, is under threat from Bob’s own government. The city of West Haven has teamed up with a private company—The Haven Group, LLC—to build a strip mall along the West Haven waterfront, which would include both Bob’s ad Michael’s homes. Bob and Michael do not want to sell and building around them would require the developer to rearrange only six small stores in the overall complex.

Except there is one problem.

West Haven is in Connecticut, home of Kelo v. New London, the much-reviled 2005 U.S. Supreme Court case that allowed government officials to condemn property based on nothing more than a promise to generate more tax revenue. That decision sparked outrage and a nationwide backlash—44 states have passed laws reforming their eminent domain laws to make Kelo-style takings harder and nine state supreme courts have rejected the Kelo decision.

The Kelo case is also notable for what it did not spark: development. Twelve years later, the neighborhood destroyed by New London is a vacant lot populated only by grass, weeds and feral cats.

The lesson of Kelo is clear: Eminent domain abuse hurts property owners, destroys communities and fails to generate the kind of development its proponents promise.

But West Haven officials have taken the opposite lesson from the case. They apparently believe the case means they can take anyone’s property, anytime they want, for any reason. That is not true. The West Haven condemnations are worse than Kelo. Government officials in Kelo wanted to take private property in the hope of realizing their (wrong-headed and fantastical) plans for redevelopment.

But government officials in West Haven did not decide their town needed a strip mall and go looking for someone to build it for them. A private developer decided to build a strip mall and has enlisted the city government to take property on its behalf. Simply put, West Haven is not condemning Bob’s property for a public purpose; it is condemning Bob’s property because a private developer told it to. This is exactly the kind of taking that even the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision singled out as unconstitutional.

That is why Bob and his family have teamed up with the Institute for Justice to file a lawsuit against the city of West Haven and its redevelopment arm, the West Haven Redevelopment Agency, to put an end to this abuse of public power for private gain.

http://www.ij.org/case/west-haven-eminent-domain
Donate to IJ: https://ij.org/support/give-now/

ij
,
institute for justice
,
freedom
,
liberty
,
individual rights
,
constitution
,
constitutional law
,
unconstitutional law
,
con law
,
constitutional litigation
    Thumbnail for Grand Theft Auto in Wilmington, Delaware25:49
    Grand Theft Auto in Wilmington, Delaware
    IJvids
    955 views
    Thumbnail for 25+ Riddles Even Had My Smartest Professor Stumped | BRIGHT SIDE14:04
    25+ Riddles Even Had My Smartest Professor Stumped | BRIGHT SIDE
    invidious
    344 views
    Thumbnail for Church Cemetery Banned from Selling Headstones1:49
    Church Cemetery Banned from Selling Headstones
    IJvids
    982 views
    Thumbnail for Police Seized $39,500 From Him at the Airport, but Never Charged Him With a Crime3:32
    Police Seized $39,500 From Him at the Airport, but Never Charged Him With a Crime
    IJvids
    1002 views
    Thumbnail for Steven Pinker: Rationality Saves Lives56:42
    Steven Pinker: Rationality Saves Lives
    ReasonVids
    872 views
    Thumbnail for Supreme Court Appeal: Can States Bar You from Using Navigable Waters?15:23
    Supreme Court Appeal: Can States Bar You from Using Navigable Waters?
    IJvids
    990 views
    Thumbnail for Talking to a Client in the Wrong Location Makes This Counselor a Criminal29:22
    Talking to a Client in the Wrong Location Makes This Counselor a Criminal
    IJvids
    864 views
    Thumbnail for How the IRS has been seizing $ from innocent Americans1:55
    How the IRS has been seizing $ from innocent Americans
    IJvids
    1000 views
    Thumbnail for IJ's Jeanette Petersen Explains Three Reasons You Can't Get a Cab1:40
    IJ's Jeanette Petersen Explains Three Reasons You Can't Get a Cab
    IJvids
    930 views
    Thumbnail for Should the Government Provide Health Insurance to All Americans? A Soho Forum Debate1:31:39
    Should the Government Provide Health Insurance to All Americans? A Soho Forum Debate
    ReasonVids
    884 views
    Thumbnail for TRUMPED: The Donald, The Widow and Eminent Domain2:44
    TRUMPED: The Donald, The Widow and Eminent Domain
    IJvids
    1060 views
    Thumbnail for IJ Asks Why1:20
    IJ Asks Why
    IJvids
    915 views
    Thumbnail for Pension Tsunami's Jack Dean on the Growing Wave of Public Pension Debt9:48
    Pension Tsunami's Jack Dean on the Growing Wave of Public Pension Debt
    ReasonVids
    1068 views
    Thumbnail for Pot is Legal in Colorado. So Why Can't You Smoke It Anywhere?6:35
    Pot is Legal in Colorado. So Why Can't You Smoke It Anywhere?
    ReasonVids
    933 views
    Thumbnail for @big_fat_dangus shares his sexual wisdom0:42
    @big_fat_dangus shares his sexual wisdom
    bestofvoatxyz
    561 views
    Thumbnail for Freeing Small Farms - Case Launch Press Conference (May 18, 2010)8:12
    Freeing Small Farms - Case Launch Press Conference (May 18, 2010)
    IJvids
    1113 views
    Thumbnail for IJ Live: IJ Files Suit to Challenges Indiana’s Ban on Using Online Eye Tests to Obtain Prescriptions4:34
    IJ Live: IJ Files Suit to Challenges Indiana’s Ban on Using Online Eye Tests to Obtain Prescriptions
    IJvids
    1031 views
    Thumbnail for The Whitest Kids U'Know - I'm Gonna Grape You | IzyaschnyPopakrut3:37
    The Whitest Kids U'Know - I'm Gonna Grape You | IzyaschnyPopakrut
    invidious
    801 views
    Thumbnail for Steak with peppercorn sauce and crispy smashed potatoes 🥩🤝🏽 #Shorts | Notorious Foodie1:00
    Steak with peppercorn sauce and crispy smashed potatoes 🥩🤝🏽 #Shorts | Notorious Foodie
    invidious
    134 views
    Thumbnail for Let's Compensate Bone Marrow Donors2:14
    Let's Compensate Bone Marrow Donors
    IJvids
    1025 views
    Thumbnail for Learn about horse teeth floating2:58
    Learn about horse teeth floating
    IJvids
    1116 views
    Thumbnail for Wolves v Newcastle United | Matchday Live! | The Toon Review2:43:19
    Wolves v Newcastle United | Matchday Live! | The Toon Review
    invidious
    251 views
    Thumbnail for Oregon Man Fined $500 for Criticizing Red-light Cameras2:27
    Oregon Man Fined $500 for Criticizing Red-light Cameras
    IJvids
    1130 views
    Thumbnail for Talking Tom 🔴 MEGA PACK Season 1 🐱 Cartoon for kids Kedoo Toons TV | Kedoo Toons TV - Funny Animations for Kids1:00
    Talking Tom 🔴 MEGA PACK Season 1 🐱 Cartoon for kids Kedoo Toons TV | Kedoo Toons TV - Funny Animations for Kids
    invidious
    373 views
    Thumbnail for asmr en DIRECTO PARA DORMIR Ale ASMR | Ale ASMR2:04:05
    asmr en DIRECTO PARA DORMIR Ale ASMR | Ale ASMR
    invidious
    187 views

points

Permalink
Reply
ij
,
institute for justice
,
freedom
,
liberty
,
individual rights
,
constitution
,
constitutional law
,
unconstitutional law
,
con law
,
constitutional litigation
TOS  •  Add Keywords  •  Donate  •   Analytics  •   DMCA  •   Puzzle