A short video with Jeff Benedict, author of Little Pink House – A True Story of Defiance and Courage (Grand Central Publishing 2009), which tells the backstory to the infamous Supreme Court eminent domain decision Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005) (available from Amazon here).
More on the book
Our post on the subject is located here.
Our thanks to Dwight Merriam for responding to yesterday’s post on “Maui Mansionism” and noting the more common terms “McMansion,” “starter palace,” and (my favorite) “garage Mahal.” He’s also kindly forwarded two powerpoint presentations on regulation of big and tall homes: Monster Mash: Putting a Stop to Too-Big Houses (3mb pdf) and Teardown
I learned a new -ism word today thanks to an article in the Maui News forwarded by my Damon Key colleague Mark Murakami. Currently, Maui’s “Hotel” zoning allows the property owner to build an apartment or a single-family residence as well as a hotel, but in Mansionism discouraged on land with hotel zoning
Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the nominee to fill Justice David Souter’s seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, has served as either a federal District or Circuit Judge for 18 years during which she’s either authored or sat on panels in cases involving eminent domain or regulatory takings. Here’s an admittedly unscientific sampling of those
In County of Hawaii v. C&J Coupe Family Ltd. P’ship, 119 Haw. 352, 198 P.3d 615 (Dec. 24, 2008) (posted here), the court held that a taking is not immune from judicial scrutiny for pretext or private benefit simply because the property is being taken for a “classic” use such as a road.
Under Haw. Rev. Stat. § 101-27,when a condemnation action is “abandoned or discontinued beforereaching a final judgment, or if, for any cause, the property concernedis not finally taken for public use,” the condemnor is liable for:
all such damage as may have been sustained by the defendant by reasonof the bringing of the proceedings
In United Here! Local 5 v. City and County of Honolulu, No. 28602 (May 22, 2009), the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals held that a developer need not undertake a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement under the Hawaii Environmental Policy Act, Haw. Rev. Stat. ch. 343, unless the plaintiff shows a substantive change in
You may remember Mel Brooks’ History of the World: Part I, where Brooks, as King Louis XIV, turns to the camera and exclaims “it’s good to be the King!” each time he takes advantage of one of his subjects.
Well, it turns out that it really is good.
In Eagan Economic Development Authority v. U-Haul Company of Minnesota, No. A08-0767 (May 19, 2009), the Minnesota Court of Appeals held that when a delegation of eminent domain power from a municipality requires a redevelopment agency to enter into a development agreement before acquiring property, the agency is without power to take property until