Kelo Revisited

[Fenris]

Remember Kelo v. New London? It was an eminent-domain court case that made it to the Supreme Court back in 2005. Basically, the town of New London wanted to seize people's homes and set up a corporate park for the Pfizer Corporation. They argued that economic development was a compelling community interest, sufficient to override people's rights to their own homes; and the Court agreed.

So, how'd that work out? The New York Times has a story on that today:

...“Look what they did,” Mr. Cristofaro said on Thursday. “They stole our home for economic development. It was all for Pfizer, and now they get up and walk away.”

That sentiment has been echoing around New London since Monday, when Pfizer, the giant drug company, announced it would leave the city just eight years after its arrival led to a debate about urban redevelopment that rumbled through the United States Supreme Court, and reset the boundaries for governments to seize private land for commercial use.

Pfizer said it would pull 1,400 jobs out of New London within two years and move most of them a few miles away to a campus it owns in Groton, Conn., as a cost-cutting measure. It would leave behind the city’s biggest office complex and an adjacent swath of barren land that was cleared of dozens of homes to make room for a hotel, stores and condominiums that were never built.
...

“Basically, our economy lost a thousand jobs, but we still have a building,” Mr. Pero said. Then again, he added, “I don’t know who’s going to be looking for a building like that in this economy.”

But if someone is, New London will doubtless be ready to cut them a deal.


õ
Maybe they can rezone it into apartments!

[K'Nort]

It was known from day one that it would turn out this way. Same way all those Midwestern tax breaks to keep an employer around never pay for themselves.