Action Sites

http://www.castlecoalition.org/current_controversies/index.asp
Grand Terrace, California – In 1979, the entire city of Grand Terrace was declared blighted. City officials are now taking advantage of this outdated designation in order to build a shopping center on top of 16 acres of privately owned, residential land.

Americans for Limited Government
http://www.getliberty.org/sites/lg/default.aspx

World Net daily article about home protection
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45263
McClintock's proposal would require that a government must either own the property it seizes through eminent domain or guarantee the public the legal right to use the property should it be transferred to a private party. In addition, the proposed amendment requires that seized property must be restored to the original owner or his or her rightful successor if the government ceases to use it for the purpose of the eminent domain action.

California law defines blight as a "physical and economic" liability, which cannot be "reversed or alleviated" except by redevelopment. What fool concluded that local politicians understand how the economy will unfold? In 20 years, I've met precious few pols with more than a high-school grasp of market forces.

Yet today, it is local politicians who decide if property presents an irreversible "physical and economic liability," thus allowing them to take private homes on the cheap.

As noted by C. Robert Ferguson in a report for the Claremont Institute, "cities continue to find upscale areas blighted" in a scramble to erect luxury buildings that generate taxes for which these cities pine. What a sweet, circular setup.

Kelo doesn't change California law. As UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh explained to me via e-mail, Kelo "basically reaffirms what most lawyers understood the law to be in any event." http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/07/12/EDG8HDLC3T1.DTL

Start a community action group http://www.castlecoalition.org/survival_kit/p3.asp#community

GrandpaTerrace Adds: Grand Terrace needs to Write a Code of Eminent Domain Which Strictly Limits it Use for Fully Public Use Projects OWNED and USED by the PUBLIC, not rented to or from or held in trust by a private party or Public Entity. This Measure should be put on the next ballot, and FORCED onto the City Government, and the CRA.

A Grand Terrace City Code would not affect the ability of other agencies such as a School District or the County from using Eminent Domain for lest say a road or a school, or library, but those are in fact the reasons we tollerate the loss of personal property rights.