From the Email INBOX:

Regarding the article by Ralph Megna,(P-E Nov 14 Eminent Domain Hysteria) I feel compelled to respond. and no NEWS Paper will Print My Letter:

Mr. Megna speaks to the use of eminent domain as a tool for governments to take land for roads, parks and bridges. The only bridge Mr.Megna built in Grand Terrace was the one from our city treasury to his bank account. Mr. Megna is or was the financial consultant to the City of Grand Terrace as well as the City of Fontana. The City of Fontana taxpayer now is the owner of a $2,480,955,957 redevelopment debt. That was as of 2003 and made them the second largest redevelopment indebted city in the state. I'm sure it has grown since.

Mr. Megna brought the Outdoor Adventure Center plan to the City of Grand Terrace. The City of Grand Terrace bought his idea, lock, stock and barrel. They bought land and went on his plan for over a year before making the citizens aware of this shopping center that would include a lake for testing boats and jet ski's. Mr. Megna's contract for this project, signed Oct 3, 2003 would pay him and his company $255.00 an hour for "consulting" on the Outdoor Adventure Center. The City Council did not vote approval of the OAC until Oct.9. This shows it was a done deal no matter what the citizens of Grand Terrace felt. So has it been with every project brought to Grand Terrace. The City Council disregards the outcry's of it's citizens and caters to the developers. All of Grand Terrace was declared blighted when they incorporated in 1978 and the whole of the city declared a redevelopment project. So no ones home is safe. If need be the council will create a zone for your project rather than a project for the zone. As shown by the recent Senior Housing Project vote by this council. The city, over the objections of many, plowed ahead on the Outdoor Adventure Center spending millions of dollars on what has now been deemed a failed project plan Mr. Megna authored. He was not alone. Our City planning director Mr. Knootz, Nolte and Associates, for whom Mr. Koontz works three days a week, and our City Manager Mr. Schwab were the driving force behind the project and should be some of those people Mr. Megna speaks about that should be held accountable. Don't hold your collective breaths.

The Grand Terrace Partners that now have taken over the project did a market and feasibility study on the Menga plan and found it to be not feasible nor marketable.


The home owners in this project area were threatened with the use of eminent domain by the city, as have been, and still are, the home owners in the Town Center project on Barton Road.


Mr. Megna's comments on the urban legend that some faceless bureaucrat is coming to take your home is not accurate. They have faces and we know who they are. They are the developers, that have latched on to the cash cow called Redevelopment. They are the City Councils and the staffs of City Halls and City Managers that place the well being of their developer friends over that of those that elected them. We can't allow ourselves to make that mistake again.


Mr. Megna stated that a public agency that is coming to take your home by eminent domain and pay you less than market value and give it to Wal-Mart is hysteria that passes for thoughtful discourse. That is not the case in Grand Terrace. They are giving it to Lowes and Stater Brothers. They used the ruse of a new public library to incorporate eminent domain into the Town Center project. We have a library now that is under funded and the new one will cost the taxpayers of Grand Terrace $7500 a month to rent. Even though our city manager said at a meeting no city funds would be used to pay the rent on the library,two days later in a P-E story he stated that the rent would come from the general fund or from the redevelopment agency. This rent will be paid to Jacobson Family Holding, the developer. The library will be placed in between a Lowes, those seeking day labor jobs and a super Staters.

Mr. Megna claims that the use of eminent domain rarely happens in the taking of private homes and when it does they pay 20 to 30% more than market value. At least in Grand Terrace a precedent has been set with the recent purchase of a home for $1,200,000 by the city. So if your home is to be taken you should receive the same price per square foot as they paid for that house and land. Look at the cases across America. The majority of them are not for "roads, bridges and public parks". The cases that are brought to court and public attention are the taking of homes for developers like Mr Megna. They are for shopping centers, high rise condos and commercial ventures. It is the taking of private homes to enrichen the developer, as is the case in Grand Terrace and across this nation. Any revenue generated by the use of redevelopment agency funds for a project does not go back to the general fund of the city. It goes to the redevelopment agency for more redevelopment. This means that tax money that should go for schools, road repair, law enforcement and the services that taxes are paid for, go into the pockets of developers. Redevelopment agencies are the only branch of government that can issue bonds without voter approval. Again is the case here in Grand Terrace.


Again Mr. Megna speaks to public figures that are accountable and understand the seriousness of eminent domain. So far in Grand Terrace the only public figure who understands this seriousness is Planning Commissioner Bidney, who, when asking Mr. Megna if eminent domain was going to be used to displace people for his Outdoor Adventure Center had to resort to pounding on the dias and raising his voice to get a straight answer from Mr. Megna. The answer was yes. Mr. Bidney was the only one who voted against the project with the statement "that if it were his home that was to be taken he would be very concerned".


Nowhere in Mr. Megna's article does he show concern for the person who may loose what may have been their life long home to the greed of developers or "consultants" He blathers on about development and needing "real leadership" to further his goals.I might add that since Mr. Megna's Outdoor Adventure Center has been shown to be folly and he has made his thousands and thousands of dollars off the taxpayers of Grand Terrace, no one has seen hide nor hair of him. It appears he sold his project, made his money, and left for greener pastures. If you visit his website, Empire Development Solutions, see if you can find any of these public roads, bridges and parks he speaks about. It all looks like commercial development he is involved in.


So when Mr. Megna says he only knows of one home in 35 years that was to be taken by eminent domain by redevelopment may I remind him of the several his project in Grand Terrace were going to take and the ones on Barton Road that were told to deal with Jacobson or face eminent domain. It has been proven by Supervisor Chris Norby of Orange County and a slew of council members and educators from across southern California cities, that cities that do not have redevelopment agencies do far better than those that do. Grand Terrace is just one example how an uncaring council and a redevelopment agency and destroy a nice community. Thanks for nothing Mr. Megna.