I’m not sure how many of you are aware that there is an eminent domain case going on in the neighboring city of Lynn, Massachusetts that involves the taking of commercial property from several owners in order to revitalize the waterfront area along the Lynnway. In the words of City Council President, Timothy Phelan:
“This action will be another major step in correcting the decisions of our forefathers and realistically developing Lynn’s underutilized waterfront,” Phelan said.
Mr. Phelan has informed the Lynn Economic Development and Industrial Corporation, which is heading up the project for the city, of its desire for land taking at the following locations:
- Dean’s Foods, 626-680 Lynnway;
- Electrical Mutual, 715 Lynnway;
- Donald Algeni, 847-853 Lynnway;
- Car Realty LLC, 720 and 730 Lynnway and on Harding Street; and
- Irwin Nebelkoph & Paul Varadian, trustees of South Harbor, Lot 7 off the Lynnway.
In the 40 page DPU approval decision the agency recognized that the relocation project would allow for nearly 6 million square feet of mixed-use development along the waterfront. The Director of the city’s Department of Economic Development expects the project to generate millions in taxable new revenue let alone the benefit of new construction related jobs.
I suspect that at least some of the owners will resist the land taking. However, after the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) ruling in the Kelo vs. New London, CT economic development case, the odds of a suit stopping eminent domain application succeeding are supremely slim to none.
An intervention by the landowners could delay a Department of Public Utilities decision by six to 12 months and cost the city up to $300,000 in legal fees, James Cowdell, Director of the Lynn Economic and Industrial Development Corporation said. He said the city also would incur undetermined costs from the eminent domain cases. But he is unfazed by the latest obstacle.
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EXPANDING THIS STORY OUTWARD:
The Kelo case was a significant nail used to seal the casket of property rights as a moral value and a moral right in America. Until the people of the country wake up and understand that property rights and liberty are one and the same and fight for the restoration of both, more obscene land takings will continue and the erosion of individual rights will march forward until there are no human rights left to take. As that erosion deepens, some will be reminded of the lyrics from the old Brooks and Dunn song…”you’re gonna miss me when I’m gone”…
Government and business have become so intertwined in their common interests in globalization that the common man is generally not much of a concern in this transformative age we are experiencing. Make no mistake; both parties are for globalization – the fight is in the details over what form the final new world order will take on. Clinton may have signed NAFTA and GATT, but George Bush signed CAFTA and was leaning toward signing the “Law of the Sea Treaty”. President Obama seems to be willing to sign on to anything from nationalization of the economy (The Federal Stimulus) to globalization of the environment under the authority of the United Nations (global warming & cap-and-trade agreements), so long as he has an escape route from having to accept blame.
While most people slept, these erosive endeavors were being undertaken by our former Presidents and the United States Congress. Although, I see the Congress more as an alien delegation representing all of the major American parties and the globalized economic interests prescribed for the conduct of trade by the Keynesian doctrine of economics than as representatives of the interests of American ideals and interests. One item at a time, they are surrendering sovereignty over America ideals and individual rights to the collective obligations imposed by the United Nations to redistribute wealth.
Perhaps, we are deserving of this fate. We were warned about not sacrificing a little liberty in exchange for a little security. That warning went unheeded when the government was robbing the rich to give to the poor that which they did not earn. Now the play has opened it’s final act and as we look behind the curtain, we are beginning to get a glimpse of rich nations being robbed in similar fashion to redistribute unearned wealth to the poorer nations. The United Nations is using the wealth earned by the productive nations to feed the looter nations who never developed, nor made any attempt to develop. The U.N. is supporting dictatorships and religious zealots with the hope that their support will buy peace. It won’t. Peace has never been for sale – it, like wealth, has always had to be earned to be meaningful and sustained.
One day, we will all wake up and fully understand the story of Rip Van Winkle. Until then we will continue to dream and carry on as if nothing has changed and the world is as it has always been. But within moments of awakening, most will understand, too late, that the nightmare has just begun.
