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« A Simple Proposal | Main | Out of Season » June 28, 2006An Example of Why Eminent Domain Reform Is NeededNashvillians Kenneth and Toni Eaton used to own a used car lot in downtown Nashville. It was their property - until the day that the Metro Development and Housing Authority decided to take the Eaton's property and let a private developer to build condos on. MDHA and the people who run the city decided that condos would be nicer there than a used car lot. So they condemned the Eaton's property and took it. And then MDHA turned the property over to a private developer, AHR Development Inc. And today part of the "Row 8.9n" urban townhouse development sits on what used to be the Eaton's property. A group of banks, architects, engineers, construction companies and landscape architects all made money off the deal, which was funded by tax dollars. The Nashville City Paper has an update on the ongoing lawsuit. Unfortunately, by building the townhouses before the litigation was settled, MDHA has rigged the game so that even if the Eatons win, so does MDHA. If the Eatons prevail in court they can't get their property back, just a financial settlement - which MDHA would pay with your tax dollars. Angry yet? [Editor's note: After I posted this, I received an email from a reader that got me digging a little more. The emailer wrote: "Rumor has it, that the developer of the 8.9N project is none other than Steve Neighbors...husband to Diane Neighbors, Councilperson-at-Large and...[wait for it]...the Campaign Treasurer for Bill Purcell going all the way back to the Tennessee State House! Curious." Well, it's not a rumor. Steve Neigbors is indeed president of something called The Home Company of Middle Tennessee, which is the home construction subsidiary of Affordable Housing Resources, which also owns AHR Development, the development subsidiary. Among the people on Affordable Housing Resources' board are Metro Nashville Vice Mayor Howard Gentry, and Hank Helton of MDHA and director of the Mayor's Office of Affordable Housing. Neighbors's wife, Diane Neigbors, is Vice Chair of Metro Council's Budget & Finance Committee, which allocates tax dollars to, among other things, MDHA. The Eatons, last time I checked, were not well-connected power players in Metro government. Which is why their property isn't their property anymore, and a well-connected developer and builder was able to use tax dollars to build townhomes on it.] The Eatons are not alone - eminent domain abuse and the government seizure of private property to benefit well-connected private interests is an accelerating national tragedy. Jeff Cornwall noted recently on his excellent blog, in the year since the Kelo decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court changed the definition of property rights, shifting ownership of property "from an inalienable right of individual citizens to a privilege that can be taken away by a state or local government that decides they have a 'better use' for our property, the number of private properties seized by government nationwide under "eminent domain" has skyrocketed. In just the past year, more than 5,700 properties nationwide have been threatened by or taken with eminent domain for private development-a figure that compares with more than 10,000 examples over a five-year period preceding the Kelo argument, according to one of five reports released Tuesday by the Institute for Justice (which argued the Kelo case before the U.S. Supreme Court). By the way, the Institute for Justice state-by-state summary of legislative action in the year since the Kelo decision lists Tennessee as one of the states where the legislature has improved property owners' protections against eminent domain abuse - but just barely: Tennessee created a State commission to study the use of eminent domain and ways of reining in abuse. House Bill 3450/Senate Bill 3296 was signed by Governor Phil Bredesen, slightly improving the definition of blight and providing additional notice during the condemnation process. More reforms will be needed next year, especially in regard to the State’s still too-broad definition of “blight.”The Institute for Justice isn't from around these parts so they can be forgiven for not knowing that, when the legislature wants to avoid doing something, it sends it to a study commission. Posted in Kelo
Comments
That should be in their lawsuit and as part of the financial settlement, they should become limited partners and get a piece of it. Posted by: Sandy P at June 28, 2006 12:15 PMI wrote this a couple of months ago for the Voice show on Southern Roots radio. The recent local outcries against U.S. Supreme Court?s eminent domain decision in the Kelo case, should also have our Tennessean churches joining the protestors on both moral and biblical grounds. The personal right to property, which should have been guaranteed by the Constitution, and was vehemently defended by the Founding Fathers against the tyranny of King George, has now been whittled down to the whims of local government representatives and the lobbying of commercial developers. The threat of eminent domain hangs over every piece of private property, which should concern every land owner and house holder in this community. The inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are in danger of being squashed by commercial carpet-baggers, who are on the prowl for cheap land deals using this highly controversial and immoral code to oust long term occupants of preferred redevelopment sites. The whole issue is highly reminiscent of the story of Naboth's vineyard in the First book of Kings, chapter twenty-one, where King Ahab and his wife Jezebel use all sorts of malice and contrived machinations to get the land that they crave from a private individual who wants to keep his property. They succeed because they have no scruples and no one dares to initially oppose them. And then Elijah, the great man of God speaks out against the injustice, bringing down all sorts of curses upon the perpetrators. In the end, the unrighteous couple loses everything because they have not only offended the community, they have also greatly displeased God. This is why our churches should be speaking out against this issue, and calling upon our elected officials to legislate safeguards for the ordinary, private-property owning citizen, whose rights have been eroded by this Supreme Court decision. In the run up to the next election, those running for office should firmly and publicly declare which side of the vineyard they are on. Rev. John Stuart This is really just a dispute between Eaton and MDHA. AHR does great work and was basically just a contractor for MDHA. Eaton is just using this to try and run for mayor. I fear you are playing right into his hands, but oh well. Posted by: JT at June 28, 2006 5:50 PMAny company that relies on eminent domain to steal property from lawful land owners is not doing "great work". Any government agency (ab)using eminent domain to give land to private developers that have connections to local politicians is corrupt and unjust. In Tennessee, I fear, political revolution won't happen because too many people like the status quo. Posted by: Joseph A Nagy Jr at June 30, 2006 6:00 AMI over heard at a lunchen at Swetts Friday That Eaton is building a team and word is they are putting together a winning team Eaton was there with about 20 backers and campaign leaders seems they mean business jt's comment, "Eaton for mayor oh well" I would think MDHA would be thinking very hard on this matter, My information is showing Eaton is laying low on the mayors race and building his team and it seems some heavy hitting business are going to be backing Eaton along with Eatons personal money I would say MDHA will be revamped if Eaton wins Posted by: SW at July 11, 2006 9:36 AMYou fail to mention that the car lot owned by the Eatons was a haven for drug dealers, addicts, and prostitutes. Many long-time neighborhood residents witnessed these activities daily, in Eaton's 'used car lot.' It was a blight to the neighborhood, which the Eatons chose to do nothing about. They could have cleaned up their property and done the whole area a favor. The rampant illegal activity on the property was a large, unignorable reason it was condemned by MDHA. MDHA should be commended for helping jump-start a neglected area of town. Since the completion of Row 8.9n, the Hope Gardens neighborhood has seen vast improvements, included the similar Ireland 28 development, and scores of new single-family homes. Criminal activity has been greatly reduced. Ask any long-time resident of Hope Gardens if they want that nasty car lot back. I garuntee you, the answer is 'No thanks.' Posted by: row 8.9n homeowner at August 7, 2006 3:38 PMfirst off to row 8.9 home owner... You have no idea what it is like to run your own business in an area where shootings and prostitution happen in the alleys behind your business(which I can promise you as the child who grew up at this business DID NOT HAPPEN ON OUR PROPERTY.) when your business is in the middle of a gang controlled area I guess it is easy to blame the business for the problem as opposed to the lack of a police presence in the area. Now that metro has money involved in the area... OF COURSE IT CLEANED UP... the police go where the money is. Secondly to JT... My Father has been a self started success all of his life, with the backing of a great woman like my mother there is nothing the man cannot achieve... For you to believe we allowed this to happen to our 27 year old family business for political reasons; not only are you wrong but to be frank you are a moron... if anything this motivated us to affect change in our community the best way possible... through politics... and Third... to those of you who understand how bad eminent domain is, we thank you for the support in this matter... some people like JT and Row 8.9 homeowner(p.s. hope for your sake you don't live in one of the homes on OUR property... if you do.. you won't be a homeowner for long...at least if I have any say in it) have no comprehension of this and never will... about "the eaton's never did anything to fix this problem"... first off we aren't police, second we tried to leave the area through the sale of the property(Due to the extremely high rate of crime in the area... once again not our fault)... MOST fast food restaurants offered seven figures for the propety... metro is offering 300,000... now say you live in a 100,000 house... I need a 4 lane highway instead of a two... so I take your home with eminent domain... and you get 25,000... are you happy? if so you are also a moron and have no comprehension of business... this is an ongoing matter, and if it's not resolved by the time this propety is passed to my brother and myself, you can believe we will continue to fight it. Our family name is trusted throughout nashville, for a great place to get a good used car cheap, you went to the Eaton's... Eaton used cars has been in operation moving on 40 years and will be in operation for at least 40 more after that.
John T. Eaton Posted by: John Eaton at September 19, 2006 3:58 PMPost a comment
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