Saturday, October 14, 2006

Idaho Proposition 2

Proposition 2 here in the State of Idaho sounds wonderful. Protects private property owners from unreasonable taking. What isn't so wonderful, is that through the smoke screen of hyperbole, this law, if enacted would essentially eliminate zoning laws.

The part of this proposition that deals with land use, holds that the State, or subdivision thereof, cannot limit what you do with your property. If the highest and best use is a wrecking yard, or slaughterhouse, then you can built it, even if your property lies within a residential area.

Passage of this proposition would visit anarchy upon us. It's simply bad law.

4 comments:

Idaho Dad said...

I was talking to a guy today who is a property law attorney and a big supporter of private property rights, and he said, "Prop 2 is terrible... It isn't even constitutional."

stebbijo said...

Actually Herb - I watched the debate on Diolugue last night with Heather Cunningham and this guy Bowen. She completely covinced me that we should vote yes for prop 2.

Case in point. Now the government will have to pay the value of the property instead of stealing it. Our fearless leaders are against it becasue they do not want to pay. A porn or pig shop will not go up in an area where the community is strong. Zoning laws do not fall through the cracks and planning can still move forward.

For instance with enough strong arming a Wallmart that nobody wants will go through because they will go to the fearless leaders and prove that it is for the "greater good" of the community and then the local governenment will take the property they need. They will probably get it - but with Prop2 - they will have to pay for it.

That is how I see it. You vote against Prop2 - you will still see massive develpment with folks being booted out with something instead of nothing. It protects private property that needs to be taken for the 'new construction.' Anything that the government has to take also gives the owner a fair price

Any developer/politician that is against Prop2 doesn't give a hoot about real people and it is only about the money. They just want it for free.

Anonymous said...

stebbijo, you've been taken in by the proponents of this lunacy. This "law" (which if passed will be overturned in court) will only benefit attorneys (like Heather) and large land speculators.

I've asked numerous times for Heather to produce examples of this "emminent domain abuse" she constantly rails on about. She'll cite some case in Oklahoma or the Kelo case in Conneticut, but she simply can't produce an example that's occured in Idaho.....the reason, because it simply doesn't happen. The protections she assures you this law addresses are already in place....private property cannot be taken in Idaho for the purpose of economic development. It's that simple.

I think a fairer question to ask Heather is how much her firm billed in litigation fees to the State of Idaho over the last ten years or so. That number would stagger you.

Don't be fooled by a self-serving ambulance chasing attorney that's made a very good living suing the State of Idaho and bilking the Idaho taxpayers out of millions of dollars.

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