The Taking Issue

What does the term public servant mean to you?

While the name may conjure up images of a fat Colonel Sanders making the back room deal with the public works contractor, in reality, the vast majority are over worked but more importantly under appreciated providers of the public good. Now, what the public good is and what is "good for the public" is an entirely different and very touchy subject. I'll leave that for a snowy day.

I make no secret that my job is essentially red tape, fulfilling "requirements". However, every once in awhile, if only by accident some of the work I do does make a small difference. One of the most challenging parts of my red tape job is the requirements for public involvement. It's not very fun to come to meetings just to get yelled at by, well, I call them crazies, when they don't even pay attention to what you are saying or what you are trying to do. They just look at you and think "government".

That's at least how it happens some places. In others, its no secret (and probably the reason for the publics distrust) that the government presenters come to meetings with the end result in mind and only bring the information to the public to "check the box." Sometimes this isn't a huge deal, the changing of a speed limit or addition of a traffic signal but sometimes these decision truly warrant a DECISION of the people, not just provided for their consideration.

This is certainly the case with the Trans-Texas corridor. I'll get to that topic in a moment.

When I was a young Urban Planning student in my first semester my College professor, Rocky Ward gave us a test with the question "What is the taking issue?" I hadn't done the reading (I never did the reading) and up until that point hadn't had any interest in real world topics like planning and thus had no clue what the answer was. I wish I still had that test to see what sort of rambling excuse for an answer I gave. I quickly learned though that this is one of the most critical principles in planning, or at least in planning ethics. To give you a better understanding of the taking issue take a look here.

Its the ultimate strong arm move by the government. Through zoning communities can regulate the use of land, however, they can't deny economic viability to the property
owner. The "legal" way of repossessing property is through eminent domain, where the property owner is generally compensated. Since we are talking about real property its easy to see how this can be a hotly contested issue.


In Michigan there was a huge issue when proposed portions of I-696 went straight through an Orthodox Jewish community in Oak Park. The Federal Highway Administration has a great case study from this project on community impact mitigation. What resulted from the NEPA process and cooperation from highway planners and community leaders was as close as you can get to a win win situation with something that has the potential to affect a community. Now huge parks span across the freeway and keep the community connected.

The problem that has surfaced, or at least come to the attention of more people is the public taking for private profit, the ultimate inside job. Let me be clear that eminent domain can be a very good thing, its just that it is abused. It has been the impetus for redevelopment in countless areas. Without it, successful infill development, especially in older urban areas, would be nearly impossible.

The Trans-Texas Corridor is one of those abuses of implied power that impresses on the public the thought that eminent domain is only an abuse of power and not a reasonable way to promote the public good. We've all heard that everything is bigger in Texas and this project is no exception. The proposed corridor stretches from Mexico all the way to Oklahoma across Texas farmland.

I came across an interesting little website about the corridor and the abuse of power in the planning of the corridor. It's a property owners worst nightmare: owning your own piece of land minding your own business, paying your taxes, when someone comes to tell you that your home will be destroyed and you will be "compensated."


There's a lot of talk out there about the Trans-Texas Corridor being the first leg of the new NAFTA super highway. If you've ever read "Hard Times" by Charles Dickens, picture the Coketown stretching from Mexico to Detroit. That picture is what the doom and gloomers are painting but this is really just a misunderstanding.

Before we start screaming government conspiracy lets bring ourselves back to the facts on NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Lots of talk about a new NAFTA superhighway is out there and I think Christopher Hayes does a good job of bringing us back to reality about NAFTA

None the less, I really thought the Truth Be Tolled web site was interesting. If you listen to the trailer it sounds like something out of Braveheart. "They may take our lives, but they'll never take OUR FARMS!" While the fear of the "Superhighway" might at least in part be unfounded, the affects of this corridor are real.



Here's a few more takes on eminent domain. I'll try to add more as I find them.

Tim Brown's Post
Cory on Transcanada and KELO
Nan Brasmer's Real California Eminent Domain Reform without Hidden Agendas