The Conservative Zone

This is disgusting. Eminent Domain in N.J. - Now They Just Steal Land.

It's the tale of a man who wanted to sell his property to a developer. He worked hard and invested a lot of money to acquire the property and when he gets ready to sell it to a developer, the city council that must give its approval, says no. Then they start talking about Eminent Domain and their own developer.

Carol Segal has a problem: He wants to build townhouses on the six acres of land he owns in New Jersey's Union Township and has contracted with a developer to build 100 townhouses there.

But the township government wants to develop the property themselves, and - incredibly - they have voted to take his land through the eminent domain process and let a local developer with political connections do the job.

This local developer just so happens to be the head of the local Democrat Party, and the Council members are, guess what, Democrat.

"They made it clear I needed them to get it done," Segal told the newspaper, adding that he didn't like the deals they offered, and said he told them he wanted to develop the land himself. Around April, Segal said, the meetings stopped.

"At first, I thought we were working together," Segal said. "Now I realize they were trying to steal my land the whole time."

Of course, this is nothing new. There is a 1.5 million sq. ft. regional mall, plus another 1.5 million sq. ft. in pad buildings around one corner here in Memphis. Plus the development all up and down the street separating the two areas. And all of the developers were either very cozy with the City Councils involved, or they were on the Council itself.

What is new is Kelo, which allows local governments to do just what they are doing in their case, and that is stealing some $12 million from Mr. Segal.

Like I said, disgusting.