What should eminent domain should be used for?

[jamesrage]

I saw this thread and wondered what are your opinions on what eminent domain should be use for.


What should eminent domain should be used for?

Hospitals
Roads
K-12 schools
Universes/colleges
Municipal buildings
Privately owned companies
Remove condemned or property is disarray
Should not be used at all
other
Don't know/no opinion




The government should never be handing property over from one private property owner to privately owned business and it should be illegal for private companies to use eminent domain to acquire property, if they need it that bad then they can pay the owner what ever the hell the owner wants. Things like schools, hospitals,and municipal buildings can be built on other location,so it should be illegal. Roads should be about the only thing that eminent domain should be used for,so that is about the only thing I can agree with eminent domain being used for and thats only if enough property owners agreed to already sell their property for the road.I think condemning the property just so they can get a cheaper price should be illegal.

 

[Helix]

Only for essential infrastructure. Roads, bridges, electrical grid, etc.

 

[justabubba]

w thought it should be used to build the rangers' baseball stadium so it would enhance his wealth
yep, THAT small government w

 

[MaggieD]

I saw this thread and wondered what are your opinions on what eminent domain should be use for.


What should eminent domain should be used for?

Hospitals
Roads
K-12 schools
Universes/colleges
Municipal buildings
Privately owned companies
Remove condemned or property is disarray
Should not be used at all
other
Don't know/no opinion

The government should never be handing property over from one private property owner to privately owned business and it should be illegal for private companies to use eminent domain to acquire property, if they need it that bad then they can pay the owner what ever the hell the owner wants. Things like schools, hospitals,and municipal buildings can be built on other location,so it should be illegal. Roads should be about the only thing that eminent domain should be used for,so that is about the only thing I can agree with eminent domain being used for and thats only if enough property owners agreed to already sell their property for the road.I think condemning the property just so they can get a cheaper price should be illegal.

Eminent Domain is necessary for roads, airports, railroads, stadiums, other public uses, etc. In that case, an owner should be entitled to an appraisal of his own choosing, by a licensed appraiser, paid for at government expense. I also think that, if vacant property is basically abandoned...becomes a hazard to the area...a druggie hangout, etc...municipalities ought to have the right to exercise eminent domain...same way, licensed appraisal, pay the owners, and then sell the property to whomever they wish -- hopefully at a profit.

 

[haymarket]

We had a situation here in Michigan years ago where the city, county and state used their powers to destroy a working class neghborhood on the east side of Detroit adjoining the city of Hamtramck to make it easy for one of the Big Three auto companies to expand. Hundreds of homes and businesses were bought in forced sales and the land sold at sweetheart prices to the corporation.

That is disgusting and should never have happened.

Sometime watch the great 1938 film YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU. One of the subplots is that Lionel Barrymore is the last holdout in a working class neighborhood against a company trying to take over the whole area. Today, the city would condemn his house and the movie would be a short subject.

 

[Kandahar]

I'm OK with it being used for roads, rail, and airports. Those are massive public projects, and we can't allow them to be jeopardized by some random guy who stubbornly refuses to sell his property. For that matter, I don't have a problem with eminent domain being used for medical facilities either, provided there is some strategic reason why the facility must be located on that specific patch of land as opposed to somewhere else.

The other items on that list are unnecessary IMO. I see no reason that eminent domain should be needed to find a place to build a school or government building, and using it for private businesses/residences is the most flagrant abuse of all.

 

[radcen]

Eminent Domain is necessary for roads, airports, railroads, stadiums, other public uses, etc. In that case, an owner should be entitled to an appraisal of his own choosing, by a licensed appraiser, paid for at government expense. I also think that, if vacant property is basically abandoned...becomes a hazard to the area...a druggie hangout, etc...municipalities ought to have the right to exercise eminent domain...same way, licensed appraisal, pay the owners, and then sell the property to whomever they wish -- hopefully at a profit.

Agree with infrastructure. Disagree about stadiums and the such. And "public use" is way too broad. A privately owned shopping center could be, and has been, considered public use.

 

[haymarket]

Agree with infrastructure. Disagree about stadiums and the such. And "public use" is way too broad. A privately owned shopping center could be, and has been, considered public use.

And it should NOT be.

 

[MaggieD]

Agree with infrastructure. Disagree about stadiums and the such. And "public use" is way too broad. A privately owned shopping center could be, and has been, considered public use.

The legal definition of "Public Use" has a narrow definition. It's not broad at all. A shopping center wouldn't cut it.

public use n. the only purpose for which private property can be taken (condemned) by the government under its power of eminent domain. Public use includes: schools, streets, highways, hospitals, government buildings, parks, water reservoirs, flood control, slum clearance and redevelopment, public housing, public theaters and stadiums, safety facilities, harbors, bridges, railroads, airports, terminals, prisons, jails, public utilities, canals, and numerous other purposes designated as beneficial to the public.

public use legal definition of public use. public use synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary.

 

[radcen]

The legal definition of "Public Use" has a narrow definition. It's not broad at all. A shopping center wouldn't cut it.

public use legal definition of public use. public use synonyms by the Free Online Law Dictionary.

I disagree. First, many communities have played fast-and-loose with the definition of condemnation. Many perfectly fine property have been improperly deemed "condemned" when the locality wanted it.

Second, the definition you cited IS very broad, IMO. They pretty much included everything.

"...Slum clearance and redevelopment..." By who? Private for-profit companies, most often.

"...public theaters and stadiums..." While accessible to the public, generally for the benefit of privately-owned teams and other privately-owned entertainment entities.

"...numerous other purposes designated as beneficial to the public." If that's not broad, I don't know what is. That could mean virtually anything, and often does. Increasing the tax base has been a common excuse...

New London, Connecticut | The Institute for Justice

The fight over Fort Trumbull eventually reached the U.S. Supreme Court, where the Court in 2005, in one of the most controversial rulings in its history, held that economic development was a “public use” under the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Oh, and the most insulting result of this specific example?... The developer backed out and the land sits vacant. Everybody's been uprooted and kicked out for nothing.

(Same link as above)

Meanwhile, in New London, the Fort Trumbull project has been a dismal failure. After spending close to 80 million in taxpayer money, there has been no new construction whatsoever and the neighborhood is now a barren field. In 2009, Pfizer, the lynchpin of the disastrous economic development plan, announced that it was leaving New London for good, just as its tax breaks are set to expire.

 

[Alyssa]

Only for essential infrastructure. Roads, bridges, electrical grid, etc.

This. Certainly not stadiums and shopping centers.

 

[Gipper]

There has never been an enforcement of Eminent Domain that I am aware of where I agreed with it.

I personally think it should be abolished, and I sometimes wonder what the hell the founding fathers were thinking with that clause.

 

[jamesrage]

There has never been an enforcement of Eminent Domain that I am aware of where I agreed with it.

I personally think it should be abolished, and I sometimes wonder what the hell the founding fathers were thinking with that clause.

Maybe it never occurred to them that private companies would able to use eminent domain.

 

[Utility Man]

The Associated Press April 14, 2011

Pipeline firm threatens to use eminent domain

By JOSH FUNK

OMAHA, Neb.

A Canadian company that wants to build an oil pipeline to the Gulf of Mexico is again threatening landowners with court action if they don't sell TransCanada the rights it needs to build the Keystone XL pipeline.

TransCanada was criticized last summer for mentioning eminent domain in letters to landowners. Company spokesman Terry Cunha said TransCanada has agreements with more than 80 percent of landowners along the six-state route and wants to be ready if the project is approved.

Pipeline firm threatens to use eminent domain - BusinessWeek

 

[Gipper]

Well I remember about what, 5 years ago? In Massachusetts, there was some major hullabaloo about the state enforcing ED doctrine to seize private property to put up a Wal-mart. This made me sick.

 

[Alyssa]

Well I remember about what, 5 years ago? In Massachusetts, there was some major hullabaloo about the state enforcing ED doctrine to seize private property to put up a Wal-mart. This made me sick.

That is sickening. A ****ing Walmart of all things.

 

[Jerry]

I saw this thread and wondered what are your opinions on what eminent domain should be use for.

A few months ago, Uncle Sam used Eminent Domain in Fort Pierre, SD, to execute National Guard missions on private property while combating the flood.

Seems legit to me.

 

[Arcana XV]

For necessary infrastructure exclusively. Roads, airports, etc..

 

[Utility Man]

 

[MaggieD]

There are blighted neighborhoods that are half-vacant; infested with druggies; basically uninhabitable; owned by what we sometimes call slumlords. Well, I think many of these so-called slumlords are overwhelmed by the conditions of the neighborhood, their buildings, and their plight. Even if they wanted to sell these buildings, they couldn't do it because of their present use/condition. When a landlord fails (for whatever reason) to keep up their property, keep criminals out, keep the water running and the sewers working, then I think it makes sense for government to step in, use imminent domain and get rid of these pits. Landlords like it...or not.

 

[jamesrage]

I love how when trump was going on do you want to live in a city where you can't build schools,roads access to hospitals and Stossel brought up the fact he isn't using eminent domain to build those things but to destroy a building a rich guy finds ugly.

 

[jamesrage]

There are blighted neighborhoods that are half-vacant; infested with druggies; basically uninhabitable; owned by what we sometimes call slumlords. Well, I think many of these so-called slumlords are overwhelmed by the conditions of the neighborhood, their buildings, and their plight. Even if they wanted to sell these buildings, they couldn't do it because of their present use/condition. When a landlord fails (for whatever reason) to keep up their property, keep criminals out, keep the water running and the sewers working, then I think it makes sense for government to step in, use imminent domain and get rid of these pits. Landlords like it...or not.

A lot of times when they condemn a property for eminent domain it is not for a blighted neighborhood or house. Its so they can forcefully take the property from the owner at below market price just like what this Canadian company is trying to do in this link http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/u...in-fight-over-pipeline.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1

 

[MaggieD]

A lot of times when they condemn a property for eminent domain it is not for a blighted neighborhood or house. Its so they can forcefully take the property from the owner at below market price just like what this Canadian company is trying to do in this link http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/18/u...in-fight-over-pipeline.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1

A pipeline is exactly what emminent domain is designed to facilitate. I wonder why you think they're trying to acquire "an easement" (which is all they're doing) under market. What's the going rate for an easement? I have to give my electric/cable company an 8-ft easement at the back of my lot for nothing...

 

[jamesrage]

A pipeline is exactly what emminent domain is designed to facilitate.

A oil pipeline owned by a foreign privately owned company?

I wonder why you think they're trying to acquire "an easement" (which is all they're doing) under market. What's the going rate for an easement? I have to give my electric/cable company an 8-ft easement at the back of my lot for nothing...

There is a huge difference between a oil pipe line especially one owned by a company in a foreign country and a telephone/electrical pole that provides electricity .

 

[radcen]

A oil pipeline owned by a foreign privately owned company?

There is a huge difference between a oil pipe line especially one owned by a company in a foreign country and a telephone/electrical pole that provides electricity .

I might be with MaggieD on this one. The fact that it will be owned by a private company is a very important consideration, but not the sole consideration. Most telephone and power companies are technically private companies, albeit regulated.

I have to think about this particular scenario more.