Missouri Eminent Domain Abuse Coalition

Your Home a White Castle?

The O'Fallon Journal, the hometown paper of MEDAC chairman Steve Blechle, has an excellent story about the rally:

The gathering of 300 to 400 politically diverse constituents included a busload of residents from St. Louis. In addition to those on the main floor, spectators crowded the railings and looked down from upper floors of the historic building.

Some carried signs that said "Hands Off My House." They chanted "No compromise!" during speeches...

The state's three top Republicans offered their support: Gov. Matt Blunt; House Speaker Rod Jetton; and Senate President Pro Tem Mike Gibbons.

Also invited to speak at the Capitol rally was downtown O'Fallon businessman Steve Blechle, who in 2003 helped defeat a sweeping redevelopment plan for the city's downtown.

"Your home is supposed to be your castle," Blechle said. "If you don't change the way these laws are now, your home could become a White Castle."

Steve Blechle: No Compromise!

Click below to read the speech delivered by MEDAC co-chairman Steve Blechle at Wednesday's rally in Jefferson City.

A Good Corporate Citizen

The Springfield News-Leader reports on a bank that has chosen to take a stand for property rights:

Regional bank BB&T Corp., one of the nation's largest financial institutions, will make no loans to developers who plan to build commercial projects on land taken from private citizens by the government through the power of eminent domain, the company said on Wednesday.

"The idea that a citizen's property can be taken by the government solely for private use is extremely misguided, in fact it's just plain wrong," John Allison, the bank's chairman and chief executive, said in a statement.

No other large U.S. bank has a similar policy, BB&T spokesman Bob Denham said. The bank declined to estimate how much business it might lose as a result of the new policy.

Good for them! Let's hope this is the start of a trend.

Missourians Rally for the Rights

There's lots of good press coverage of yesterday's property rights rally.
And here's a story in the Southeast Missourian:

St. Louis resident Maxine Johnson said she came because eminent domain threatened her basic constitutional rights.

"Whether they offer you $1 or $1 million, it doesn't matter," she said. "It's your house, and you should have the choice of if you want to sell."

Johnson, 49, lives with her husband and six children in a house built in 1883 and has been resisting a townhouse development along with some of her neighbors since 2003. She said the state needed to get involved because municipal officials have used eminent domain to take private property and do what they wish.

"Why should people buy a house when other people can come in and take it 10, 15 years from now?" Johnson said.

And the Post-Dispatch reports:

Wrath over the government's practice of taking private property brought together a unique coalition of farmers, business owners and urban residents on Wednesday.

Their message - stop the use of eminent domain for economic development - was echoed by Gov. Matt Blunt at a packed rally in the Capitol Rotunda.

Incidentally, their estimate that 200 people attended is ridiculous. There were about 200 chairs in the rotunda, all of them full, and at least as many people standing behind them. There were also several dozen more observing from the second-floor balcony. A more reasonable estimate is 500 people.

Clayton Property Owners Online

The Clayton Committee to Stop the Abuse of Eminent Domain has launched a website:

Never before has Clayton taken such an aggressive step that would permit the developer to take an existing business and replace it with another that might provide greater tax benefit to the city.

80% of Clayton residents have stated their opposition to the city’s action and 86% say the city should have waited for the State of Missouri to address the issue. With this strength, the citizens submitted a petition for Referendum that was supported by five times the signatures required. To our surprise the city rejected the petition based on a charter technicality. We are outraged.

They've called a meeting of local business owners for Thursday at 5 PM, at The Crowne Plaza, 7750 Carondelet Ave.

The Right Way to Deal with Blight

Missouri First, an organization "dedicated to the sovereignty of Missourians," posted an essay by Ron Calzone to its website last week about the use of eminent domain to deal with blight:

Too often, government, or some private entity it has bestowed with eminent domain powers, further injures the rights of the neighbors by designating whole areas “blighted”, and then taking the good properties along with the bad from unwilling owners! Other times nothing at all is done about blight because no developer has come along to take on the project. Either way, the neighbors are left victims of blight.

Instead of abusing their eminent domain powers, local governments should pursue their “principle purpose” of securing the rights of those neighbors by using the power that is designed to protect them – that power is the police power. That's the power that has been used to deal with this sort of problem for centuries in English common law and in our own country through the enforcement of nuisance laws. Can't these powers be abused, too? Of course they can, like any other power the government has, but it is a good start to at least use the right power to solve the right problem. Safeguards against abuse of nuisance laws can be tailored to those laws.

The eminent domain debate seems to focus on how the definition of blight should be changed to minimize abuse. But as Calzone points out, the problem isn't with the definition of blight. Rather, the problem is that the concept of "blight" has allowed the state to use its eminent domain powers in cases where it really should be using nuisance law instead.

Stand Up for Property Rights on January 25

MEDAC is co-sponsoring a rally for eminent domain reform in Jefferson City on Wednesday, January 25. Every Missourian who's concerned about property rights (which is almost all of us) should attend and let our elected officials know how we feel.

The event will begin at 11 AM with a rally in the Capitol rotunda. Then we'll break up to visit with our individual elected officials and let them know how we feel.

Those living in the St. Louis area are encouraged to ride the bus that MEDAC has chartered for this purpose. The bus will leave from JVL Daycare, at 2953 Dr Martin Luther King Dr at 8:00. It will probably
stop at Mt. Zion MB church, 1500 S. Hanley, to pick up passengers. If you are interested in riding the bus, please contact Isaiah Hair at 378-7294 by January 20. The cost is $15 per passenger.

More on the Clayton Project

The Post-Dispatch reports that the businesses threatened with condemnation in Clayton are fighting back with an initiative petition. What I found particularly interesting about the story is this:

Centene Corp. plans to build a $190 million office and retail project on part of the 7700 blocks of Forsyth and Carondelet boulevards and on Hanley Road between them. Centene CEO and chairman Michael Neidorff says the corporation's expansion will bring hundreds of jobs and an attractive corporate campus. Advertisement

The property owners along Forsyth say their properties should not be blighted and that they should not be forced to sell. Centene wants to use that land for new retail space.

This is particularly outrageous. Not only are they using eminent domain to benefit private parties, but the taking of these five businesses isn't even necessary to build the Centene headquarters. The board of aldermen (perhaps at Centene's request) simply decided that they'd like different retail establishments adjacent to their property, and so they rolled those five businesses into their plans.

The board of aldermen should be ashamed of themselves for dismissing their citizens' property rights so casually.

Press Release: Task Force Recommendations Inadequate, MEDAC Warns

ST Louis--At a January 7 meeting, members of the Missouri Eminent Domain Abuse Coalition expressed their disappointment with the final recommendations of the Missouri Eminent Domain Task Force. The task force's vague recommendation that the definition of blight be "tightened" was of particular concern.

"Blight has always been the biggest loophole for eminent domain abuse," warned MEDAC co-chair Steve Blechle of O'Fallon. "The task force makes vague promises that the definition of blight will be 'tightened,' but history has shown that any blight exception, no matter how well-meaning, will be abused by developers and their allies in city government."

Cleaning Up "Blighted" Clayton

Is downtown Clayton blighted? You wouldn't think so from looking at it. It's a bustling commercial and governmental hub--the site of St. Louis County government and dozens of prestigious law firms. Yet according to the Clayton City council, five businesses along Forsyth boulevard are blighted. Fortunately, those businesses are fighting back:

Clayton business property owners who would be forced out by a proposed $190 million development along Forsyth Boulevard lambasted city officials Tuesday night for authorizing use of eminent domain and blocking a public vote on the matter.

At an aldermanic meeting, they accused the city of unfair treatment of owners of viable businesses, many of which have been operating for decades.

Mayor Ben Uchitelle said Clayton was committed to ensuring that the owners would be fairly compensated. Uchitelle said the project--a mixed office and retail development centered on a new headquarters for Centene Corp.--would benefit the entire region and bring in hundreds of jobs.

There's a simpler way to ensure that those property owners are "fairly compensated": don't use eminent domain in the first place. If Centene needs that land to build its headquarters, it should be willing to offer the property owners the market rate for their property.