Washington State Attorney General, Rob McKenna has requested legislation to WA congress to rein in the abuses of taking private property in the state through the Community Renewal Law's power of "eminent domain". One issue is taking private property and allowing private citizens to develop it, and the other issue is the "blight" reason for taking the property.
The hope is to narrow this definition which is vague and too broad. "Blight" may include an entire area which includes property that is not "blighted" in with the the rest, and "blight" also includes inappropriate uses for the land, issues of diversity of ownership, high levels of crime, unemployment, or poverty.
In the past 10 years Washington local governments have applied the CRL to take property of more than 71,000 residents.
The bill Att. Gen Mckenna is backing is Hb2423/SB6199 and HB2425/SB 6200
Thanks for the great post. This has been a really big issue in Washington, DC as well. However, legislatively, there hasn't been much action here.
Cathleen, thanks for checking out my post. I am pretty sure the office of Attorney General is non-political, but I would vote for this guy any time.
Sandra, People forget how ruthless the various governmental bodies can be in the US. I specialize in Latin American referrals and every time someone asks me, "What about the government taking my property?" I respond with, "Oh, you mean like in the US?" If I was in Washington, I would vote for him, too.
Sandra - I think that the use and abuse of "Eminent Domain" can be a hot button issue for a lot of communities. I recall one area in Massachussets that had some rather well kept smaller cottage type homes, which fell to Eminent Domain. The reason - the city wanted BIGGER homes in that area to generate more tax revenue for the city. And there was also pressure from developers.
The flip side to that however, is a very blighted community, with many abandoned properties, that are a magnet for crime, that could certainly use some form of relief from their current condition.
That is why McKenna wants a better definition of "blight" and make sure a private developer isn't taking advantage of an individual homeowner.