City uses eminent domain to acquire land for a "pocket park"
According to a story by the Chron's Mike Snyder, the city is using eminent domain to claim a parcel of land in order "to develop a small 'pocket park' on the edge of a large, upscale redevelopment project."
Originally the owners of the land were negotiating with Wulfe & Co., which wanted to buy the land to go along with its BLVD Place development, but soon after those negotiations fell through, the city filed condemnation proceedings to acquire the land. Uptown District President John Breeding assures that the land will be used to benefit the public and not Wulfe & Co.
Actually, he was offended at the suggestion that this was done for the benefit of Ed Wulfe's company.
Joe Turner, the city's parks and recreation director, acknowledged that it is rare for the city to use its eminent domain authority to acquire land for parks. But in this case, Turner said, the action was justified.
"We have a shortage of parks in that area, and the Uptown District has done a good job of maintaining parks," Turner said.
Gray, the Collinses' attorney, agreed that the area needs more parks. The location of this small park, however, will primarily benefit Wulfe and his customers, so the developer should bear the costs rather than relying on a publicly funded agency to do so, Gray said.
So a shortage of parks = justification for eminent domain proceedings. Wait until Metro gets wind of this.
KEVIN WHITED ADDS (03-09-2008): Chronicle metro/state columnist Rick Casey isn't terribly bothered by this latest example of the city trying to stick it to the little guy. Then again, it's hardly shocking that the Chronicle's resident plagiarist doesn't have a problem with property being taken without proper credit/value.
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Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/07/08 04:49 AM | Print |
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