How many members of the San Diego City Council actually managed to stand up for the concept of private property rights? Just one. The vote on the seizure was 8 to 1. Nice going, San Diego.
Eminent domain abuse is epidemic across America in the wake of the hideous SCOTUS decision. In Alabaster, Alabama 12 landowners are being forced out of their homes to make way for a Wall Mart.
The Alabaster city council wanted the sales tax revenue that the superstore would generate. You would be surprised to learn how many cases of eminent domain abuse across the country involve Wall Marts, though they certainly aren?t alone when it comes to using government to avoid the free market.
While there?s bad news for property rights in San Diego this week, there?s good news in Florida. Earlier this week Florida residents were alerted by talk radio to a set of bills moving through the Florida House and Senate. These bills, if passed, would allow local municipalities and counties to seize private property and turn it over to private developers for office buildings, shopping centers, bowling alleys, automobile dealerships, apartment complexes or virtually any private use.
The owner of the seized property would, again, be paid a ?fair? price for his property ? using the government?s definition of ?fair,? not the property owner?s. The anti-property rights bill was on the fast track for passage by the end of the week. Developers and city governments were licking their chops.
For many, the American dream is to own real estate. The majority of Americans who manage to build a million-dollar net worth do so through investments in real estate. The methodology is simple.
You figure out where people are going, then you get there before they do and buy a piece of real estate that you think will appreciate in value when the hoard arrives. You then wait until someone else wants that real estate more than you do, and is willing to pay you a handsome profit.
Developers aren?t particularly fond of this system. They don?t like paying some private land owner a million dollars for a piece of property he bought ten years ago for one-tenth that amount. This eminent domain law in Florida would have changed all that. Instead of going to the individual property owners to negotiate a price, developers would simply have identified the property they want to their local politicians. The politicians, with visions of more tax revenue rattling in their political skulls, would begin the condemnation process while the developer counts the money he saved by circumventing the free market.
Well ? It didn?t work. Tuesday morning Florida residents were flooding legislative offices with emails and telephone calls. By Tuesday afternoon some legislative sponsors of the bill were withdrawing their support. By Wednesday evening the bill was dead, with all mentions of eminent domain removed. In Florida, at least for the time being, private developers will still have to negotiate with property owners to purchase property.
Meanwhile, in San Diego, Ahmed Mesdaq wonders why GRH isn?t negotiating with him any further over the purchase of his property. It?s simple. GRH has a new business partner ? government ? a partner can use force to simply take the property. With a partner like that, why negotiate?
By the way ? the Marriott folks should be ashamed.