I guess we knew this was going to become commonplace. I realize these were areas that were not exactly thriving, but some of these people had lived in those homes their whole lives. Many have been bought out and properties demolished. The people involved in this situation on the side of the city are not the same people they used to be. The greed that has overtaken this country in the wake of the Republican control has infected them. Let’s just say I knew some of them when they were of a kinder, gentler nature.
Eminent domain proceedings started
Lakeland’s Downtown Community Redevelopment Agency has moved closer to taking private property for a plan that eventually could put 400 townhouses and condominiums on blighted land.
On behalf of the CRA, Lakeland lawyer Mark Miller on Thursday filed to begin the eminent domain process in circuit court in Bartow. The move marks the beginning of legal steps against five property owners who haven’t negotiated a deal with the CRA to sell their properties.
And it pays to be rich and in control and have the power of eminent domain. These are the companies seeking profit.
Lakeland Downtown Development Authority board members have received five responses from builders to develop nearly 400 middle- and upper-income condominiums and townhomes in a 14.6acre neighborhood north of the city’s police station. LDDA officials sent out requests for qualification packets to nearly 300 developers for their ideas on the property in October. The developers include PDC Development, from St. Petersburg; La Cite Development, from New York; Lakeland Enterprise Development Group; Carlisle Development Group, from Miami; and Hyde Park Builders, from Tampa. The 10-member selection committee will rank its top choices in a meeting Nov. 29.
I did a previous diary at Booman about how they are using the definition of “blight” to allow developers to get whatever land they want. Read this definition.
“Illinois state Sen. Steve Rauschenberger, a Republican who is considering a run for governor, said the state’s blight laws need to be more restrictive.
“The statutory definition of blight in Illinois is broader than the Mississippi River at its mouth,” he said. “They have taken everything from underdeveloped lakefront property to open green-grass farmfields as being defined as blighted.”
I hate that I quoted a Republican on this, but he is right. Senator Bill Nelson is trying for a bill to limit its use as well. But it still all comes down to the definition of “blight.” That is going to be the catch.
The best definition I found of “blighted” is this:
“Affected by blight–anything that mars, or prevents growth or prosperity”The only question is “whose” prosperity.
I found this website from Fernandino Beach, Florida. It is a presentation of their attempt to define blight, and there are many pictures there of what is considered such. Some do not look like blight to me. This is a very interesting website from Florida which has added some pages since my last visit. They are also featuring a post about fraudulent proclaiming blight.
Website questioning blighted areas
From a link at the site, around in circles. Other cities are driving people from their homes.
Florida City Plans to Drive 6,000 Citizens from Their Homes
Author: Matt Warner
Published: The Heartland Institute 02/01/2006“It can’t happen here” was the prevailing initial response of Florida’s public officials after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June 2005 in Kelo v. City of New London. The state’s attorney general even issued a statement evidently intended to calm Floridians’ fears that their local governments suddenly had carte blanche authority to seize private property.
…”Critics Cite Bogus Blight
Homeowner Martha Babson was among those alarmed by the city’s 2001 study declaring her neighborhood blighted. It’s a designation that–under Florida law–gives local government the authority to use eminent domain. So Babson decided to conduct her own study. Walking the entire 400-acre area that is marked for redevelopment, she found numerous inconsistencies between the study’s findings and the reality on the ground.
What alarms me is that the people doing this here in our area are people I have known for a a while. I don’t know them now at all…they have changed so much from the kind of people they used to be. Now their bottom line is the almighty dollar, where once they had other priorities.
