To: FJB who wrote (49108 ) 7/22/2013 10:52:50 PM From: TimF Read Replies (1) | Respond to Eminent Domain and the Decline of Detroit Ilya Somin • July 22, 2013 7:20 pm sixty year decline, culminating in its recent bankruptcy, has many causes . But one that should not be ignored is the city’s extensive use of eminent domain to transfer property to politically influential private interests. For many years, Detroit aggressively used eminent domain to promote “economic development” and “urban renewal.” The most notorious example was the 1981 Poletown case , in which some 4000 people lost their homes, and numerous businesses were forced to move in order to make way for a General Motors factory. As I explained in this article , the Poletown takings – like many other similar condemnations – ended up destroying far more development than they ever created. In his prescient dissent in Poletown , Michigan Supreme Court Justice James Ryan warned that there was no real reason to expect that the project would produce the growth promised by GM and noted that Detroit and the court had “subordinated a constitutional right to private corporate interests.” Why Nations Fail Poletown decision and forbade economic development takings in County of Wayne v. Hathcock (2004). The state has also curbed eminent domain abuse by legislative reform and constitutional amendment. Unlike recent eminent domain reforms enacted in many other states, Michigan’s are fairly strong . Hopefully, more people will learn from Detroit’s example, and realize that the road to prosperity is paved with property rights, not economic development takings.Poletown and Hathcock , here is the amicus brief I wrote on behalf of the Institute for Justice and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy in the latter case.volokh.com
