- Timothy Sandefur
ONE YEAR after the Supreme Court shocked Americans with its eminent-domain decision, Kelo v. New London, officials in Riviera Beach, Fla., announced their intention to seize 400 acres of land, including hundreds of homes and businesses, and transfer the property to a developer, to build stores and condominiums.
Although on May 11 Gov. Jeb Bush signed a law prohibiting such property seizures, the city had rushed to approve its plan in an emergency meeting on May 10. Asked about these shady tactics, Riviera Beach Mayor Michael Brown insisted that the city had acted legally.
"We're comfortable," he said, "with everything we've done."
Unfortunately, Brown's audacity is typical of bureaucrats who see Kelo as signaling open season on landowners. Such officials perceive themselves as sculptors of neighborhoods, who mold their ideal city from the property that people have worked hard to buy. They don't see property as a right, but as a privilege, which can be revoked or altered in the name of "progress."
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