| March 19, 2008 – Today, the Alliance announced support for Assembly Bill 1992, legislation introduced by Assemblyman Chuck Devore of Irvine that prohibits public agency associations from using anonymous campaign accounts.
March 17, 2008 –Opponents of eminent domain reform have been accused of illegally funding opposition to Proposition 98, a eminent domain reform ballot measure that will restore private property rights protections in California.
March 15, 2008 – Baldwin Park residents rallied against a proposed multimillion-dollar development this week at a forum backing eminent domain reform.
March 10, 2008 – Opponents of eminent domain reform have been accused of illegally funding Prop. 99, their so called eminent domain reform measure that does little to protect property owners.
February 29, 2008 – The City of Stockton is contemplating seizing electric facilities from Pacific Gas & Electric to generate millions of dollars in revenue for the City.
February 22, 2008 – Opponents of eminent domain reform continue to weaken California’s redevelopment laws, allowing abuse to continue.
February 8, 2008 – The Central Valley Business Journal article illustrates the differences between the two eminent domain measures appearing on the June ballot, with Prop. 98, the CA Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act, being the only one to protect all property owners.
January 18, 2008 – A new report from the Institute for Justice finds that property rights reforms don’t limit economic development.
January 12, 2008 – Seaside residents will elect an advisory committee later this month to make a recommendation to the City Council on the use of eminent domain in the controversial West Urban Village Project area.
December 21, 2007 – A San Diego family was awarded $26.5 million for their property after Caltrans used eminent domain to seize a piece for construction of a proposed freeway.
December 21, 2007 – The Reason Foundation and host Drew Carey bring a great video on eminent domain abuse in Redevelopment: A Tale of Two Cities.
December 19, 2007 – A Riverside County park district is trying to use eminent domain to seize a Congressman’s property!
December 16, 2007 – Concerned citizens in Seaside are circulating petitions in opposition to the City extending its eminent domain authority.
December 6, 2007 - 200 people protest the use of eminent domain to demolish their homes for retail development project – including a Best Buy!
December 5, 2007 – The City of Baldwin Park plans to seize hundreds of homes and small businesses in the name of redevelopment. Property owners are fighting back, asking the City to abandon a development agreement with Bisno Development Company.
December 5, 2007 – Despite an ongoing eminent domain battle with the City of Sacramento, Tex Mex Restaurant reopened this week after it was forced to close over a year ago. City leaders have vowed that Tex Mex is “here to stay.”
November 29, 2007 – The LA Times reports that League of California Cities and others are using anonymous campaign accounts to defeat eminent domain reform.
November 27, 2007 – Having submitted over 1.1 million signatures to qualify an eminent domain ballot measure, reformists face a battle against powerful interest groups. Read these recent editorials to learn more.
November 21, 2007 – Proponents of eminent domain reform submit over 1.1 million signatures to qualify ballot measure for June 2008!
November 15, 2007 - The League of California Cities and other taxpayer financed organizations have spent more than $7 million to defeat eminent domain reform from anonymous campaign accounts that don’t disclose their donors!
November 5, 2007 – Small business owners in Azusa are threatened by the City’s plans to use eminent domain to make way for national retail chains.
October 17, 2007 – The City of Fresno may try to acquire the bankrupt Running Horse project, possibly using eminent domain, to hand over to billionaire developer Donald Trump.
October 16, 2007 – An appeals court has ruled against a Riverside property owner who tried to place an eminent domain ballot measure on the city’s ballot in 2005.
October 13, 2007 – Eminent Domain has become an election issue in Riverside’s upcoming city council races in light of the City’s aggressive use of eminent domain over the years.
October 4, 2007 – Recalled council members in Lynwood refuse to give up their seats, instead, continue to push a controversial stadium proposal that would level 1,000 homes.
October 3, 2007 – The Chicago Tribune reports on the high displacement by eminent domain among “the poor, the less well-educated and non-whites,” citing the Community Youth Athletic Center in San Diego as a prime example.
September 26, 2007 – The Community Youth Athletic Center, represented by the Institute for Justice, filed a lawsuit challenging National City’s bogus blight declaration.
September 23, 2007 – Development company, notorious for development projects that come at the expense of small business owners, has its sights on Fresno.
September 21, 2007 – To the delight of hundreds of citizens gathered before them, the Moorpark City Council unanimously rejected an amendment to reinstate their eminent domain authority.
September 9, 2007 – Last year, Sacramento forced the doors closed on K Street’s Tex Mex restaurant. While the city gave millions of dollars in incentives to an upscale chain restaurant just blocks away, Tex Mex’s owners were never offered the opportunity to stay and improve their business.
September 7, 2007 – A Fresno bar
owner has successfully fought the city of Fresno to keep
his century-old Cosmopolitan bar and grill!
September 5, 2007 - The new League of California Cities
president, Jim Madaffer, is a champion of eminent domain.
His opposition to Prop. 90 and support for ACA 8 is further
evidence that the League won’t be changing its stripes
anytime soon!
September 2, 2007 – The Orange County Register
calls ACA 8, “an initiative designed to accomplish
the very opposite of what its supporters claim,” and
elaborate on the false claims being made against the Alliance
sponsored CA Property Owners and Farmland Protection Act.
August 31, 2007 – Farm Bureau President Doug
Mosebar discusses the California Property Owners and Farmland
Protection Act in this guest commentary.
August 31, 2007 – The San Diego Union Tribune
comments on Mayor Ron Morrison’s “chronic dishonesty”
in regards to the city’s threat to seize the CYAC
and the need for an eminent domain ballot measure.
August 31, 2007 – After garnering national media
attention, National City will allow the Community Youth
Athletic Center to stay and develop around it. Despite this
victory, lawyers will continue to fight the city’s
eminent domain authority.
August 20, 2007 - The city of Seaside strikes out
in negotiations with baseball legend Reggie Jackson, agreeing
to the possible use of eminent domain to replace a church
and several homes with Jackson's proposed hotel
development.
August 17, 2006 – Another classic case of eminent
domain abuse. Sacramento sends notices to a property owner’s
tenants informing them that their business will be seized
by eminent domain and as tenants vacate the property, the
city makes its case that the neighborhood is now “blighted,”
due to high vacancy rates! This sets the stage for major
battle to protect private property rights in Sacramento.
Action Alert!
August 16, 2007 – The Assembly Local Government Committee
will hear ACA 8 (De La Torre) on August 22, 2007. We encourage
you to contact your legislators
today, and ask them to oppose this measure.
August 10, 2007 – If Billionaire Donald Trump
get his way, hundreds of Fresno residents may lose their
homes to make Trump even richer!
August 6, 2007 – Reason magazine discusses the
effectiveness of eminent domain reforms enacted since the
Kelo v. New London decision.
July 16, 2007 – The San Francisco Chronicle’s
Debra Saunders says, “when states and cities, in search
of a richer tax base, can take your land and give it to
a private developer -- they have license to trample on everyone's
rights. And no one, except the very rich, is safe.”
July 12, 2007 - Private Property Rights Protection
Act of 2007 introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives
July 11, 2007 – Two recent editorials characterize
ACA 8 as a “sham” reform meant to stifle true
reforms.
July 9, 2007 – Just weeks after publicly praising
a hotel for recent renovations, Claremont city officials
declared the property blighted in order to hand the property
over to the hotel developer.
July 5, 2007 – ACA 8 passed out of the Assembly
Judiciary Committee this week, despite widespread opposition.
July 5, 2007 – Opposition from the Community
Youth Athletic Center has forced National City to delay
a vote to renew eminent domain authority.
June 29, 2007 – Yesterday, Alliance Chariman
and former State Senator Jim Nielsen announced his candidacy
for the California State Assembly, District 2, a seat currently
held by Alliance Honorary Co-Chair Doug LaMalfa who is termed
out in 2008.
ACTION ALERT!
June 27, 2007– In order to avoid a contentious public
hearing, the Assembly Judiciary Committee has moved up it’s
hearing on ACA 8 to July 3, 2007. We encourage
you to submit letters in opposition to this measure today.
June 23, 2007 – ANNIVERSARY OF KELO
– The Wall Street Journal writes, “Today
marks the second anniversary of Kelo v. New London,
the Supreme Court ruling that gave governments the authority
to seize property on behalf of private developers. Since
the 5-4 ruling, many state governments have taken some sort
of action to limit these "takings." But in areas
that legislators have failed to protect -- which usually
turn out to be where low-income minorities reside -- citizens
are still exposed to eminent domain abuse.”
June 22, 2007 – A new Report examined campaign
contributions towards property rights ballot measures across
the nation and found that more money was spent against Prop.
90 than against eminent domain reform measures in other
states combined!
June 22, 2007 – Donald Trump, who once tried
to seize a homeowner’s property so that limos could
park at his New Jersey casino, may now have his sight set
on Fresno.
June 22, 2007 – Riverside man is fighting a
legal battle after the city denied his right to circulate
an anti-eminent domain petition.
June 21, 2007 – In the two years since the Supreme
Court’s Kelo v. New London decision, California has
failed to consider any meaningful eminent domain reforms
and has “arguably moved backward on private property
rights.”
June 20, 2007–Ahmad Mesdaq lost his business
in San Diego’s Gaslamp district to eminent domain
two years ago, yet his property, which was bulldozed to
make way for a luxury hotel, remains vacant.
June 20, 2007– The Community Youth Athletic
Center (CYAC) is fighting “bogus blight” in
National City, where city leaders plan to hand over the
youth center to a developer to build luxury high-rise condos.
June 19, 2007 – “Victimizing the Vulnerable,”
a new study from the Institute for Justice, documents how
“poor, less educated and minorities are disproportionately
targets of eminent domain abuse.”
June 19, 2007 – After San Bernardino voters
passed Measure O to limit the county’s use of eminent
domain, county officials consider an ordinance that allows
their redevelopment agency to do the dirty work. Read more
about this loophole!
June 7, 2007 – Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle
released a report this week explaining how city officials
brought “economic vibrancy” to Anaheim without
resorting to eminent domain takings.
June 7, 2007 – California received a D- for
failing to implement substantive reforms to eminent domain
laws since the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision nearly
two years ago, reports the Institute for Justice.
May 24, 2007– The Orange County Register
comments on Assemblyman De La Torre’s so-called eminent
domain reform bill by saying, “No one should be shocked
by dishonesty in the political process, but an effort by
the League of California Cities and other big-government
organizations to supposedly restrict the abuse of eminent
domain is so dishonest that it's worthy of caution.”
May 23, 2007 – The Institute for Justice,
who represented Susette Kelo before the U.S. Supreme Court,
provides analysis of the De La Torre Legislation, saying,
“the Act will do little to prevent the actual taking
of property in California – and this flaw is fatal.”
May 22, 2007 – In response to Assemblyman De
La Torre’s proposed legislation, Alliance President
Marko Mlikotin tells the Bee’s Dan Walters, it "gives
the appearance of reform when in fact it maintains the status
quo -- preserving government's ability to profit by seizing
private property from unwilling sellers and giving it to
wealthy and politically connected developers."
May 21, 2007 - Tim Sandefur, Pacific Legal Foundation,
exposes the "many loopholes" in Assemblyman De
La Torre's proposed eminent domain legislation.
May 5, 2007 – The San Diego Union-Tribune
reports, “For 50 years Ray Brock supported his family
by running an auto body shop on 11th Street and National
City Boulevard. He built up a clientele base so loyal it
includes generations of families and a couple who travel
more than 40 miles from Ramona for repairs. But the future
of Ray Brock Auto Service is in limbo. National City is
trying to take over the property using eminent domain, an
authority it is preparing to extend for 12 years."
April 27, 2007 – The Weekly Standard
reports on the bipartisan support for eminent domain reform
and explains why “liberal Democrat” Maxine Waters,
CA and “dependably conservative Republican”
Senator John Cornyn agree on this issue.
April 25, 2007 – A critic of redevelopment agencies
writes in the LA Times, “But these
unelected governments have three extraordinary powers: the
right to use eminent domain to seize private property for
the benefit of private developers, the right to issue municipal
bonds without voter approval and the right to divert property
taxes from schools and other government bodies.”
April 17, 2007 – Seaside property owners are
concerned that a plan championed by a development group
headed up by baseball legend Reggie Jackson may put them
out on the streets! Will the city council go to bat for
homeowners or will they bunt to development interests?
March 25, 2007 – The Desert Sun
reports that after spending more than $14.5 million and
seizing property from mostly “African-Americans and
Latinos,” the City of Indio is abandoning their redevelopment/retail
plan and selling the property – “even at a loss.”
March 22, 2007 – The Orange County Register
examines the two proposed eminent domain ballot measures
and warns voters to “be savvy and distinguish between
true reform and phony reform pushed by a group that benefits
the most from current abuses.”
March 21, 2007 – The Pacific Legal Foundation
exposes loopholes in the League of California Cities’
proposed eminent domain ballot measure! Real Reform or not?
Judge for yourself.
March 16, 2007 – In today’s FlashReport
Commentary, Jon Fleishman reports on the League
of CA Cities proposed ballot measure, calling it a “Trojan
Horse – a measure that looks good until you really
look inside of it. . .”
March 16, 2007 – In an ongoing investigation
into Caltrans’ property seizures, the Orange
County Register reports that, despite Caltrans
insistence that they are offering land owners “just
compensation” for seized property, “75 percent
of the landowners who fought eventually increased their
payoffs.”
March 14, 2007 – California League of Cities
introduces ballot measure that provides “Kelo-light”
reforms. The measure provides limited protections to homeowners,
while excluding protections for small business, family farms
and places of worship. The Alliance believes it is equally
important to provide protections to the businesses and farms
that pay your home’s mortgage.
February 20, 2007 – Supporters of eminent domain
seek to qualify eminent domain ballot measure for June 2008.
February 15, 2007 – A study released by the
Institute for Justice details the devastating effects of
eminent domain abuse on African Americans.
February 14, 2007 – Cathedral City is uprooting
homes and businesses to make way for a new development.
Maria Garcia, who is loosing both her home and business,
is upset with the City’s offer, saying, “I feel
abused because I am a poor person.”
NEWS FLASH!
February 9, 2007 - “Even after the narrow defeat of
Proposition 90, California voters remain deeply concerned
with protecting private property rights,” said Stephen
Kinney, pollster with Public Opinion Strategies. “This
survey shows that a well drafted ballot measure would have
the support of voters in 2008.”
January 17, 2007 — The NY Times
reports, “The Supreme Court on Tuesday bypassed an
opportunity to revisit or limit its much-disputed 2005 ruling
that upheld governmental power to use eminent domain to
foster economic development.”
December 20, 2006 – The Orange County
Register reports on the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers
Association’s proposed property rights initiative,
the California Property Owners Protection Act.
December 20, 2006 – The Alliance calls
on the Governor to keep his promise to reform eminent domain
abuse in 2007.
December 18, 2006 - An Armona family fights
to keep their 4th generation farm from being seized through
eminent domain by their local Community Service
District. When asked about the District's authority to seize
property, Marko Mlikotin, president of The Alliance, remarks,
"When it comes to a public agency's ability to seize
private property, their power is absolute."
November 26, 2006 – Steven Greenhut, Orange
County Register columnist, identifies CalTrans
as “biggest” and “nastiest slumlord.”
November 24, 2006 – After the close defeat of
Proposition 90, The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
submits new ballot measure to protect private property rights.
November 17, 2006 – The narrowly defeated Prop.
90 sends a message that California voters still demand eminent
domain reform.
November 13, 2006 – Election results
– In a response to The U.S. Supreme Court’s
2005 Kelo decision, voters in nine states pass eminent domain
reforms with overwhelming support.
November 8, 2006 – While Proposition 90 was
defeated by special interest groups who benefit from the
status quo, efforts are underway to qualify another ballot
measure for the 2008 election.
November 1, 2006 – Schwarzenegger rejects homeowner
pleas to support Prop. 90. In a released statement, he pledges
to reform eminent domain abuse and states, “…I
am committed to working with the Legislature to do even
more.”
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