Kelo Robbery

Remember Susette Kelo? She lost her home 3 years ago, but the land sits empty--the development the city condemned her land for isn't viable. And all around the country taxpayers have had to pick up the tab for failed government-sponsored development, when they are working to pay their own mortgages (if their home hasn't been stolen from them for risky schemes):

Redevelopment authorities and public-private partnerships are especially common in places like California where government has created such a hostile environment for business that officials justify their work as necessary to jumpstart a sluggish economy. But as Doug Kaplan, a California developer, has observed in a piece he wrote for the Castle Coalition, local government would serve their communities better by simply cutting red tape for new development, reducing fees, and focusing on basic government services like public safety, while leaving the rest to the market. Asked by a local redevelopment officer to join a ‘public-private partnership” to open a restaurant in a depressed downtown, Kaplan told him,” If you really want to revitalize downtown, then light the sidewalks, fix the roads, take care of the police, support the schools.” That’s not a message most redevelopment types, or politicians, want to hear, however.

And of course pols are usually plugged into a mutually beneficial relationship with many of those related profitable non-profits, which act as shadow campaign organizations.

Kelo is yet another reason the Supreme Court liberals have to go.

UPDATE: My friend John tells me the village has overridden local residents at 4th and Linden to authorize building a huge development (June 10th minutes) which will totally despoil the area--they're launching a petition drive---for more info go here. The supposed excuse is GREEN. What junk.

Related post: Fighting for their American Dream