SO SICK of the DC metro area!!!! (Arlington, Fairfax: sales, lawyer)

[dullnboring]

I forgot all about that random furniture store on Centreville Road. It just seems so out of place. I remember for the longest time, they had this massive trampoline sitting outside there that I used to bug my parents about when I was a little kid because I wanted one. It must've been sitting out there for at least 10-12 years. Then I remember one day driving past and it was just gone. Either someone bought it or just finally decayed into dust. I passed that store so much when I was younger for whatever reason, and always wanted to go in but just never did.

[htlong]

so i guess the poor farmer should have to pay for you to have a pleasant commute to work huh? you chose to move into the country deal with it don't raise the persons property taxes to benefit your drive.

[jmarkd]

..."eminent doman." Governments can use it for something other than stealing peoples' homes and turning them into Best Buys.
That poor farmer has seen the value of his property appreciate 500% or more since dullnboring was longing for his trampoline...if they tear that place down he can move to the real country and wipe his hiney with $100 bills.

[htlong]

jmark,
maybe he doesnt want the $100.00 bills? do you think its fair to steal his property or raise his taxes to give you a more enjoyable drive to work? personal property is why this country was founded the right to own ones property, maybe you should sell your house and move closer to work?

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by htlong

.... do you think its fair to steal his property or raise his taxes to give you a more enjoyable drive to work? personal property is why this country was founded the right to own ones property, maybe you should sell your house and move closer to work?

Use of pejorative language like "steal" his property poisons the opportunity to engage in meaningful discussion. No one is stealing property from anyone. Due process is followed. The process is suffciently rigorous to use and thus used sparingly. Landowners are not abused, usually coming out way ahead. Some landowners put up a false front, faking the heartache of leaving, but the hard-sell approach is used only to milk a higher price from government. They laugh all the way to the bank while the no-taxes and anti-government crowds spout a lot of foolish rhetoric about how big government is always running over the little guy, yadda yadda.

The net result is the same....when the greater good requires use of this tool - use it - and do the greater good. If that greater good is to ease a traffic bottleneck, so be it. Same for a school, a hospital or other worthy need.

The country has been growing since the Mayflower landed. It will continue to grow. Cities will continue expanding outward. Not news. What was country 50+ years ago is no longer country. Probably 75 years ago, maybe longer, some doofus built that old farmhouse right at the edge of a 2-lane country road. Bad idea then, worse idea now to leave it there. I lived there 31 years, starting 1974, even then that stretch of road, and that property sitting right on the edge of that road, was no longer a 2-lane country road kind of a place. This should have been taken care of at least 10 years ago, probably 20 if they had done the real planning for all the growth that they were in fact approving at that time in the county's history. But they didn't plan or fund the infrastructure, and now WE are the ones who have to live with the legacy of lousy government decisions - decisions that allowed rampant growth - while they knowingly stuck their heads in the sand on infrastructure and road planning.

My uncle had an auto parts business on Paca St in south Baltimore. He lost it in the early 1960's to emminent domain so the B. Greene Co. could build a huge wholesale grocery. A better good was served, time marched on, change happened, growth is a constant. The city had changed, time to go, he made out okay, he was 60 years old anyway, didn't need to run a business any longer, went to work helping young men set up auto parts stores and machine shops, which he enjoyed doing for a few more years.

We should not be at each other's throats here, if we are, the guilty ones who poorly ran VA and Fairfax County in the 1970's and 1980's have succeeded in dividing and conquering us. The problem is governments that are afraid to act, too corrupted by developer's money to act, that knowingly allow bad situations to worsen, and who fail miserably to do what needs to be done - even though we elect them to make choices for us, painful ones as well as easy ones.

Lastly, the view that our nation being founded on a right to own property is simplistic. Realistically, we were founded on greed. The King of England was 3,000 miles away, if we could chuck that dude, we could keep it all for ourselves; property, profits, taxes - and slaves. The founding fathers also wanted out from under the thumb of the Church of England, that's why they wrote it into the Constitution that there will be a separation of Church from State, one less expense, no tithes to a church or a king. Greed won out, we won our independence. But we gotta run this country, it takes taxes, and sometimes it takes emminent domain.

s/Mike

[htlong]

the referal to stealing property was from markyj post not mine, and if you think that our country was founded by greedy men you havent learned to much history about america , you are probably a product of gov't run schools.
as for eminent domain yes it is for the good of the people, but it has been abused by local gov'ts as a way to steal a persons property so as to build a strip mall or condos which will increase the cities tax base. this isnt for the greater good of the people .
and if people hold out for more money it must be worth it.
i know of a person who would not sell because a car lot wanted his land, he was offered a fair market value but once it was sold it was rezoned and the property price tripled....so what is the fair price before the rezoning or after?
all in all a school, hospital, even street widening are just cause for eminant domain. but for the increase in taxation is pure bull and that is what alot of city councilman are doing by declaring an area blighted.
a mans ability to own property is what this country was founded on and if you feel it was his greed,,...... go aback to histiory class

[Mike from back east]

htlong: Sorry about confusing your post with jmarkd, my point of view still remains. I do agree that eminent domain has and can be abused, but I'm not going to give up on it, it's a needed tool. Abuses can be rectified. As for history, it is written by the victors. I have no doubt the pecuniary interests of the founding fathers, their backers, and the French who helped us, had a role. In 200 years, how will historians write up our current adventure in Iraq....seeking to make the world safe from WMD...ooops, bringing democracy to these wonderful people....ooops....(come back in Sept and insert this fall's campaign spin on the matter).

s/mike

[VT Hokie 2007]

I think we should levy a $20,000 per year tax on any personal (not business) vehicle registered in Fairfax County, Loudon, Prince William, etc. that gets less than 20 mpg city/highway. Dodge Chargers, Chevy Suburbans, Hummers, etc. are horrible wastes of resources. That tax would discourage wasteful automobiles and the $ could be used instead of raising property taxes on real property. I am so freakin' sick of people complaining about gas prices when every other household owns an SUV or an otherwise inefficient car. Let those who, combined, contribute greatly to America's dependence on Islamic fascist and psuedo-communist (Venezuela, Russia) oil compensate their coutry for their selfishness. Leave the land-owners alone.

[VT Hokie 2007]

Mike, in 200 hundred years, the War in Iraq (actually, right now it's the occupation of Iraq) will be consumed by events of a greater war--the War on Terror and, I believe, World War III. Unfortunately, I believe that a clash of civilizations is inevitable. Hopefully, our history will not be written in Arabic.

[htlong]

wow how did we get from eminent domain to the war in iraq?
i guess its GWB'S fault the roads are not wide enough.
this war on terror isnt wwIII because the french havent surrendered yet, when that happens i will agree its wwIII!!!!
they almost did surrender over the right to a lifetime job though.