Prop. 90 Would Put Limits on Eminent Domain

October 26, 2006 | By PACIFIC LEGAL FOUNDATION

by Timothy Sandefur

The Redding (CA) Record Searchlight illustrates Proposition 90 with the case of Hardev Bal, an Indian immigrant whose market was almost condemned to make way for private development. Bal understands private property in a way that most bureaucrats never will:

"People … work hard to maintain their property or make a living … and the government comes in and they feel like, oh yeah, let's do it in the name of economic development — take somebody's property, abuse their power and then use taxpayers' money to demolish it," Bal said Monday. "Then they give them (property owners) next to nothing to give (the land) to somebody … who's already a millionaire to make more millions.

"It's basically morally wrong," he said.

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