Jan. 03, 2007 - 23:45 MST

EAGER BEAVERS

Always the enticement of riches lead the greedy, one might say.

A short article by Vincent Carrol, editor of the editorial pages of The Rocky Mountain News in his column this morning brings another chapter to us in the book of the entrepreneurs "push coming to shove." Quoted in full here (bolds and italics mine) :

RIGHTS AT RISK

"According to Saturday's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, "St. Louis redevelopment agency sued a convent, a saint, a nun and elderly woman in a wheelchair who has a 999-year lease on Friday, seeking to use eminent domain to condemn a property in the Ice House District north of Soulard."

"City officials hope the area will be a hip entertainment district one day, but first they have to remove the stubborn landowners and tenants."

"What's the matter with these land-grabbing government bullies ? Couldn't they have found an orphan to sue, too ?"

"If you're wondering how these PR geniuses in St. Louis could manage to sue a "saint," it seems their lawsuit also "names property owners from centuries ago," indluding Phillipine Duschesne, who founded a school in the early 19th centruy and was canonized by Pope John Paul II in 1988"

"Not that a saint has any greater claim than a sinner to protection of her property under the Fifth Amendment. When government tries to condemn private property for the benefit of private developers, we all have either the same rights OR NONE AT ALL."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It seems to be an unholy partnership of money hungry developers, and equally money hungry tax types in city, state or federal governments that leads to all this.

To me an owner of property has absolute right to his or her own land and buildings, with certain exceptions, none of which entail the making money by private developers and tax hungry civil governments.

Ownership has for the most part always been a sacred thing one might say. And anymore it takes a hell of a fight to keep things like this from happening most everywhere.

I do remember that property owners near what has become the University Hospital Property (Old Fitzsimons Hospital grounds) were under threat of having their property condemned by eminent domain pushed by developers who wanted to put upscale buildings and businesses there. The property owners were doing nothing illegal, trying to make a living or domicile in a run down section of town. The injustice of the whole thing is that it usually works out the property owners get a pittance for their property so that developers and tax gatherers can make a bundle.

To my way of thinking there should be an established formula between the assessed property value at present, the possible property value when developed, the possible income and tax take, and establishment of a "fair price" for the desired property. Some kind of equitable settlement for the uprooting of folks who have owned property on the sites.

But who am I ? An old fart that can see injustice and has little ability or resources to do anything about it, except mouth off about it.

Seems like the dams are going to surround us and drown us built by all those EAGER BEAVERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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