>
> "The taking of private property for private use, in my
> estimation, is unconstitutional. It's un-American, and
> it's not to be tolerated," said Rep. Maxine Waters,
> D-Calif., in a press conference Tuesday afternoon. "This
> is not a partisan issue."
Damn straight, Maxine. I won't comment on the legal aspects about which I don't know much, but I fully endorse the "not to be tolerated" part. I work for civil engineers and have surveyed and mapped eminent domain takings both for public use (roads, water pipelines) and for private use (a stadium and a shopping mall). My conclusion, based on my limited and anecdotal observations from underneath, has been that the ones for public use were done fairly and with restraint, while the ones for private use have all been quite outrageous profiteering scams. I'd also like to recall the unsubtle "de-negrification" scheme by which the black citizens of South side St. Pete got ethnically-cleansed out of their entire ninety-year-old residential area North of the big I-175 barrier.
Yours WDK - WKiernan at ij.net