More Eminent Domain Abuse
by Vince?Daliessio
One could be forgiven if, in the wake of the stunning Michigan Supreme Court reversal of the Poletown Decision, one believed that the sanctity of private property rights had been finally and forever vindicated. One would be wrong. Here, the city of New London, Connecticut has condemned 15 nice homes to make way for luxury condos that a developer wants to build. These condos will raise more tax revenue than the homes that currently exist at the site, therefore the city is justified in using eminent domain to simply take these 15 homes from their rightful owners (with inherently inadequate compensation). Astonishingly, the Connecticut Supreme Court agreed.
Most intriguingly, Pfizer Corporation is one of the driving forces behind this scheme. They improved and expanded a plant in New London along the Thames River, with the assurance that the city would develop the remaining riverfront properties in the area in a way that would be hospitable to (read;benefit) Pfizer, such as erecting condominiums that could be bought or rented by Pfizer employees, hotels that would be used by Pfizer, etc. So far, I have not heard anyone comment on the incredible irony of the situation, or Pfizer's equally incredible hypocrisy; that is, that the unjust taking of tangible real property is being carried out for the benefit of, and with at least tacit approval from Pfizer, a company that owes its profitability and existance to its constitutional right to intangible property; i.e., its patents, trademarks, and copyrights. Is Pfizer in favor of governments arbitrarily abrogating those rights? It would be foolish to believe so. No, Pfizer fights tenaciously to retain those property rights it holds.
The Institute for Justice has been fighting for the New London residents who are being crowbar-ed out of their homes, and is taking the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Stay tuned.
