In a reversal of the scenario encapsulated in the familiar newspaper headline, we have just come across a news item from Ukiah, California, where, believe it or not, local business people are clamoring for the local city/redevelopment agency to use the power of eminent domain to take and rehabilitate or raze a neglected old hotel. Usually, it’s the business folks who oppose the use of eminent domain for redevelopment, but in this case their principles evidently do not extend to the protection of someone else’s property.
No one is reported to be urging enforcement of municipal building and safety codes.
The moral of it all would appear to be that, as V.I. Lenin is supposed to have said: “When the world’s last capitalist is hanged by the revolutionaries, he will swing from a rope sold to the revolutionaries by the world’s next-to-last capitalist.” We don’t really know if ol’ Vladimir Ilyich actually said that, but if he didn’t he should have.
For the story, go to http://www.ukiahdailyjournal.com/news/ci_15474431?source=rss
A tip of our hat to our colleagues on the Nossaman blog http://www.californiaeminentdomainreport.com/