>You must have missed my last post, Woj. I've gone over to the other side, in
>the absence of hard evidence showing how the right is actually exploiting
>this issue. :)
>
>As to your legitimate concerns about development, why can't Walmart, for
>example, directly negotiate price with the home- and business- owners whose
>properties it seeks? It might be more cumbersome and costly and uncertain,
>but why can't the big realtors and retailers, who can afford it, not
>shoulder the same burdens as any prospective buyer? Having
>business-friendly local authorities effectively decide the level of
>compensation on behalf of private developers through the exercise of eminent
>domain is not, IMO, consistent with either the goals of the left or of the
>community. I'm persuaded that our concerns ought to be two-fold: a) restrict
>the expropriation power to public use, and b) make private interests
>negotiate directly with the community, without using the state as an
>intermediary, as they do at present.
I love it when truth & justice win a convert like this!
Doug