Legalised Plundering for Fun and Profit
"Home, home again,
I like to be there when I can
When I come home, cold and tired
It's good to warm my bones beside the fire..."
-- Pink Floyd, "Breathe (Reprise)"
Home.
What do you think of when you think of home? A warm fire, candle-lit dinner for two? Friendly chaos of you and your love and your children?
...just a place to sleep, shower and keep your stuff while you work and play and party away from it? Hey, don't laugh. For some people, this is home.
Or how about a place to hold gatherings with your closest friends?
What if the city decided that your property would be more valuable for the city in terms of tax revenue were it to be sold and developed?
Thanks to the Supreme Court ruling made today, this is now possible. A developer of any influence can approach the city and attempt to convince them that your property would be worth more if they could develop new business on it.
If they are successful in convincing the city of this, the city can seize your house and land and sell it to the developer for purposes of redevelopment.
So much for home, sweet home. I don't think you can protect against this even if you homestead the property.
I don't know about you, but I think this is just plain wrong. Remember when "at-will employment" became widespread? Well, we now have "at-will residence." The worst thing is that with a residence, you have just pumped much of your life's earnings into it. The city has the right to undercut your property's value when they seize it. Equity means nothing.
Welcome to the third American era of the robber baron.