Here's something of interest forwarded by LP activist Aaron Biterman:
The Institute for Justice has published a comprehensive report on eminent
domain abuse in the United States. The entire report is available at their
website, but here is a link to the chapter on California:
http://www.castlecoalition.org/report/pdf/states/california.pdf
The report includes a sentence I quite appreciated. It's a quote
from an appeals court ruling against a city which had attempted to justify
its eminent domain land grab by calling the affected area "blighted":
"After sifting through the general commentary that comprises much of the
redevelopment report, we discover there is little substantive material to
be gleaned. Although the report speaks in the statutory language used to
define blight, the report offers little concrete evidence of actual
conditions of blight."
This seems like a nice linguistic formula for combatting
bureaucracy and politspeak: "Although the
(report/publication/memo/form/record/bureaucrat/ politician) speaks in the
statuatory language used to (define/establish/certify/ affirm) (X), the
(report/publication/memo/form/record/bureaucrat/politician) offers little
concrete evidence of actual (X)."
Yours in liberty,
<<< Starchild >>>
Thishat the City failed to identify a single building that was
TTheiactually unsafe or unfit for habitation, and the City used
conditions like overgrown yards and broken sidewalks to
label an area blighted. She also questions the notion
that the area is economically stagnant when property
values have increased 30 percent since 1996. 8