Emminent Domain Comes to San Diego, CA
Attention California residents, especially those residing in San Diego. If you don't do something, the city and state may repo your residence for nonprivate use without even telling you in advance! From the above Union-Tribune article:
The debate over the government's right to take private property prompted by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling hovers at the very doorstep of Jody Carey and Dennis Wood, who live in a 1,000-square-foot house at the edge of a canyon in City Heights.
DAVID BROOKS / Union-Tribune
City Heights resident Jody Carey, who stood in front of three houses built by Habitat for Humanity last year that face demolition, said he could lose his home without recourse to the City Council.
No sooner did they buy the property for $260,000 last year and spend $200,000 rebuilding it – complete with a built-in beer keg tap in the kitchen, two limestone-trimmed spa bathtubs and maple floors throughout – than they received a notice from a little-known agency that their home and 187 others nearby might be demolished.
"It doesn't sound right," Carey said. "We bought and fixed it up and they're talking about taking it away. It's not the American way."
Carey's ire was raised even more last week when he read that Sacramento legislators, including Sen. Christine Kehoe, D-San Diego, are trying to rein in eminent domain in the wake of the Supreme Court's June 23 decision allowing governments to take private property for private redevelopment. In California, such condemnation is permitted if blight is declared.
Even being gay and aparently rich won't save you now.
