North Providence Bans Eminent-Domain Land Takings
The Providence (R.I.) Business News reports that the Town Council of North Providence has approved an ordinance which prohibits the city from taking land to give "a private benefit or use" to "a particular private entity." … ...
National trend suggests coulee susceptible to private eminent domain takings
This letter to the editor warns people in Grand Coulee, Colorado about the danger of eminent domain abuse. Let me toss out a scenario. Assume a wealthy yuppie from the west side with dollars to invest visits the GCD area. He notes the two nice, uncrowded lakes within spitting distance of Electric City and Grand … ...
Foes of Land Takings Widen Aim
by Timothy Sandefur Laura Oppenheimer of The Oregonian files this story about Measure 39, an Oregon ballot initiative which would prohibit the abuse of eminent domain. Oppenheimer notes that planners' biggest beef with Measure 39 isn't the economic development aspect. It's an obscure provision: Governments would pay landowners' cour ...
Washington Regulatory Takings Reform Continues to Lose Ground
I-933 in Washington has fallen to 57 percent "no" with 22 percent of precincts reporting. … ...
Big Box Takings
Volokh Conspiracy blogger Ilya Somin has an important post here about the increasing use of eminent doamin to transfer land to companies like Wal-Mart and Costco to construct stores: they very likely cause more economic harm than benefit, as I have argued in great detail here and here. In addition, they tend to victimize poor … ...
The Hidden Costs of Predatory Takings
Peter Miller at the Realty Times has an article here on the report recently published by the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis about the economic waste caused by redevelopment condemnations. Exceprt: Why, they ask, would an efficient government need to rely on the Kelo concept in the first place? "Rather than use eminent domain … ...
U.S. Supreme Court Denies Review in Takings Case Against Commission
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court declined review of a troubling California Court of Appeal decision in Charles A. Pratt Construction Co. v. California Coastal Commission, 162 Cal. App. 4th 1068 (2008), a case PLF's Coastal Land Rights Project participated in as amicus. The Court of Appeal decided, as a matter of law, that the Commission' ...
Montana Considers Regulatory Takings Compensation
The Montana legislature is considering a bill, SB402, which would require the government to compensate property owners when legislation makes their property valueless–in addition to when it actually seizes the property outright through eminent domain. … ...
Takings victories made harder
Author: R. S. Radford Professor Richard Epstein of the University of Chicago is universally acclaimed as one of the nation’s foremost champions of private property rights. This well-deserved reputation dates back to his classic 1985 text, Takings: Private Property and the Power of Eminent Domain. The Cato Institute, a Washington, DC think tan ...
Constitution's takings clause defeats CCC's forced farming permit condition
Author: J. David Breemer If I told you that you would have to farm 140 acres–forever –in order to get a permit to build one home on one acre, you'd probably think I was joking or describing something straight out of Communist Russia. But a forced farming permitting scheme is no joke and it does … ...