More on Proposed Florida Constitutional Amendment

by Steven Geoffrey Gieseler

Today's Gainesville Sun ran this AP story on Florida's proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit eminent domain for private redevelopment.  Two items to note:

(1) The odd formulation of the article's title, emphasizing the "government's right to seize property" (as opposed to Floridians' right to be secure in that property)

and

(2) The somewhat confusing observations of Riviera Beach official Floyd Johnson, who first calls the amendment an "overreaction" that neglects "the common good," then proceeds to recognize the need to protect poor people from having their property taken "for the rich," only to reverse course again and assert that eminent domain efforts like his city's can facilitate "a rising tide [that] raises all ships."