Pivotal Government Victory
In the 1950s, a certain eminent domain case was successfully brought before the U.S. Supreme Court that sprang open the floodgates for subsequent abuse. Private enterprise has been running for its life ever since.
What is eminent domain, this vague but strangely impressive impressive-sounding concept that allows government to take a business just because it can.
Ever since the U. S. Supreme Courts Kelo decision in June of 05, both the Left and the Right have been searching for ways to slow up the governments wild-eyed ride across the landscape of America.
Was It Coincidental?
Once, government could claim property only for the public good. As of Kelo, it became any public or private good.
Is it coincidence that City Hall became bristlingly active about that time?
Eminent domain is roiling the Culver City business community this spring because it has the same philosophical definition as beauty what ever you want it to mean.
Pretty Girl Is Like Eminent Domain
Eminent domain is in the eye of the judicial ruling beholder.
I believe I am correct in asserting that any business in Culver City, in theory, can be eminent domained this morning by City Hall. That is what two lawyers who do not know each other but know redevelopment law better than they know their wives said last week.
This will not happen, though, for a common sense reason.
Not Everyone Is Treated Alike
Business owners with muscle are treated differently from, say, Patrick Vorceak or Les Surfas who were perceived to be malleable.
Not many business owners are going to sell out short of a bruising fight just because City Hall taps on the door and says,
Gday, pal. We shall give you this amount for your business. Let us know by dinnertime whether you accept. If you dont, we shall bring an eminent domain case against you. Either way, you lose.
Several years ago when the two mobile home parks on Grandview Boulevard seemed likely candidates for eminent domain, I was pursuing one of the involved attorneys for a black-and-white definition of eminent domain. Silly me.
The lawyer did everything short of engineering her own fake kidnapping to avoid replying.
The fast-moving attorney must have worn out 2 pairs of shoes making, what became, a clean getaway.
It Turned Into Hoople-Hoop Time
City Hall, when confronted, harrumphed, in the tradition of Major Hoople. They harrumphed 3 times before saying, with a mouthful of bologna, that the lady in question could not talk to me. As an outside attorney, she would have to charge the city for talking to me.
Presumably, this woman was he only person within reach of Culver City qualified to provide a newspaper with a reader-friendly definition of eminent domain.
What if I Became a Bag Man?
I persisted at City Hall. What if I put a paper bag over my head and didnt reveal my identity? I asked. Would the lady attorney still have to bill the city for her time with an anonymous person?
Yep, came the answer from thrifty-minded City Hall.
Given the time this hollow exchange required, City Hall could have successfully brought and won, because it is pretty automatic 4 more Culver City businesses standing there in the street, just waiting to get socked in their already battered noses.
A Different Kind of Moses
Next time, we shall talk about the awesomely powerful Robert Moses, who ruthlessly and singlehandedly redesigned the infrastructure of New York City and outlying areas in the 1920s, 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, before Gov. Nelson Rockefellker finally wrestled him to the ground.
It is a scary story, foreshadowing current chilling events in Culver City.
