Let me tell you, in a nutshell, what the "hoo ha" is. Essentially, your whiz-bang supreme court justices have concluded that our founding fathers didn't really mean it when they guaranteed us our right to hold private property. Their decision last week announced that your property rights are limited at the point where they begin to infringe upon the desires of others who would like to take your property... As long as the tax revenues from these land-suitors is higher than your own property taxes. After all, for the collective good, those almighty tax revenues are the trump card in the question of property taxes, according to five of the justices.
Eminent Domain is a tool used by local jurisdictions (usually cities and towns) to, in its best application, clear away blighted conditions and ensure safety for the residents of the area. Unfortunately, it has sometimes been the favorite tool of over-jealous city folks who have visions of grandeur that simply do not include privately held property as currently in use. In the past, when the private property owner is threatened with exercise of the eminent domain power play, they have had some amount of success in the court system. With this new ruling, it could be very sticky for future cases, indeed.
We here in Arizona need to jump on this issue and shore up support for changes to our own state constitution. This would protect us beyond what the court has now decided about the U.S. Constitution that we all previously naively thought meant just what it said. I, for one, look forward to some spirited debate on this issue in the next session. I only hope that the proper pundits will step up to the plate and bring us a home run on this property rights issue.
