Saturday, January 03, 2009

What is "Justice" for Victims of Eminent Domain?

Detroit can claim the first mile of concrete paved road in the United States (Woodward from 6 Mile to 7 Mile) and the first "urban, depressed" freeway (The Davison). But did you know that Detroit once boasted one of the most important streets in Black America and that politicians chose to demolish it in order to construct Interstate-375?

When the decision was made to use eminent domain and evict the people of Hastings Street, it shut down what had been the highest concentration of Black-owned businesses anywhere in the United States. Hastings boasted blues bars, eye doctors, greasy spoons, dry cleaners, locksmiths, lawyers and dentists. Property owners on highway sites received only 30 days of notice from the state and no assistance with relocation.

But my how times have changed. From the AP...

Michigan pays $16 million in M-5 land seizure

January 3, 2009

LANSING -- Michigan has paid a developer $16 million after seizing land for a highway project in metro Detroit.

The settlement reached early last month ends 13 years of legal wrangling.

In 1995, the Michigan Department of Transportation, or MDOT, used eminent domain to take 51 acres of vacant land to help build the M-5 Haggerty Connector in Novi.

The state in 1996 paid nearly $2.8 million for the land, which was owned by Haggerty Corridor Partners Limited Partnership. The developer said the land was worth more because adjacent property it owned was rezoned later for high-tech offices instead of residential homes and agricultural uses.


This is quite a different result compared to the eminent domain used to seize property for highway construction some 60 years ago.

Eminent domain is used in the construction of every major freeway. Freeway siting in Detroit (and almost every other major U.S. city) has historically been used to dismantle minority communities under the guise of "slum clearance":

In each case, hundreds of residents and businesses were forced to relocate and paid far below the fair-market value for their properties. Communities were shattered and neighbors were literally separated by uncrossable "urban, depressed" freeways.

- The Lodge Expressway tore through Detroit's original Chinatown near 3rd and Howard. It relocated to the area near Cass and Peterboro.

- I-75 in SW Detroit cut through Mexicantown, bisecting Bagley Street, formerly the commercial thoroughfare. M-DOT is finally building a pedestrian bridge to reconnect Bagley this year as part of its seemingly never-ending "Gateway" project.

- I-96 landed right in the middle of an enclave of middle-class African American homes along Grand River Ave. on the west-side, making the neighborhood very difficult to access.

- I-94 took out a swath of the northern part of the Paradise Valley neighborhood.


Now, over half a century later, "Haggerty Corridor Partners Limited Partnership" has been paid a handsome sum to, er, compensate for the loss of their, er, formerly undeveloped swamp?

The $16 million is in addition to the $2.8 million already paid to the developer.

"I admire the government for realizing what's fair," said Alan Ackerman, an attorney for the developer. "It's not easy to give money away, especially in these times."

A message seeking comment was left with an MDOT spokesman Friday afternoon.

It was unclear how the settlement will affect the state budget, which Gov. Jennifer Granholm's administration has said is facing a shortfall of at least $106 million in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1.


Is it really unclear how it will affect the state budget? They owe an additional $13.2 million to a faceless group of developers and their cadre of lawyers plus whatever they've spent trying to fight the lawsuit. It will affect the state budget *negatively*.

Labels: ,