The latest round in the eminent domain battle may well be unfolding right in the shadow of the Capitol Building.
City officials have asked the D.C. Council to authorize the use of eminent domain in the neighborhood that includes the Sursum Corda housing cooperative, a move that provoked some Sursum residents to accuse the city yesterday of plotting to take their homes.
“Eminent domain. I know what that means. That means, ‘Get out. Your kind is no longer welcome here,’ ” Lorraine Rooker, a resident of the low-income housing complex since 1969, told council members at a public hearing on the proposal. “You folks were elected to protect our rights, not take our property.”
Deputy Mayor Stanley Jackson said the city hopes to “negotiate friendly agreements with private property owners,” including the residents of Sursum Corda, as it seeks to rebuild and preserve affordable housing in the rapidly gentrifying area just north of the U.S. Capitol known as Northwest One.
But if Sursum residents and their development partner, KSI Services Inc., refuse to cooperate in reaching the city’s goals, Jackson said, “you have to have the tools to bring finality. Somehow, we’ve got to get people around the table.”
In other words, if you don’t want to negotiate, we’ll force you to negotiate —- and you’ll take what we offer too, or else.
And why does the D.C. government want this property ? For a new road ? A library ? Firehouse maybe ? Well, not exactly.
The request for eminent domain is a small part of a major initiative proposed by Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) to redevelop Northwest One and other blighted, crime-ridden neighborhoods across the city. Under the New Communities Initiative, Williams is proposing to reKeplace vast blocks of concentrated poverty with new townhouses and apartments for people of all income levels.
In other words, we don’t like your neighborhood, so we’re going to take your property to change it. In the end, this really isn’t that much different from what the City of New Haven was doing in the Kelo case, or what the City of Detroit did in the infamous Poletown case.
The residents of this neighborhood aren’t rolling over, however:
The resident-owned housing complex cut a deal last year with KSI, a Virginia developer, to save the property from foreclosure by federal housing officials. That deal, which guarantees each of 170 Sursum families an $80,000 cash payment or $80,000 toward the purchase of a new home, assumes that KSI would build as many as 500 townhouses and apartments on the property. The city, however, has insisted for months that the complex should be replaced by fewer than 200 townhouse units to provide low-density housing for larger families.
The city is asking for the power of eminent domain to try to force a compromise.
More than a dozen Sursum residents signed up to speak at yesterday’s hearing. Many expressed outrage.
“Why do we want somebody to take our property when we just fought tooth and nail to get it out of foreclosure?” said Beverly Estes, Sursum board chairman.
Give `em hell.
Technorati Tags: Kelo, Eminent Domain, Property Rights
