Downtown Fixtures Not in Need of Fixing…Or Replacing

September 10, 2007 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

by Timothy Sandefur

Fresno Bee columnist Bill McEwen has this article about the Pacific Legal Foundation's lawsuit against the city of Fresno, which last week ended in a settlement allowing Gary Lanfranco to keep his property. Excerpt:

Lanfranco is the third-generation owner of "Cosmo," a century-old landmark that the Redevelopment Agency declared blighted and subject to eminent domain in its push to spruce up Chinatown.

The Cosmo is to Chinatown what Susan Sarandon is to the silver screen.

Yes, it's been around the block, but it's still beautiful — and RDA officials could've seen that for themselves if they'd done more than a drive-by inspection.

Or weren't dangling like marionettes from the fingers of master developers.

Instead of rolling over, Lanfranco rolled up his sleeves and called Pacific Legal Foundation, a Sacramento-based group that believes eminent domain is worse than typhoid fever.

(Read the rest…)