If the Tide is Changing in San Jose, Enact it into Law

The San Jose Redevelopment Agency—California’s largest government entity with eminent domain powers and one of the nation’s worst abusers of eminent domain for private profit—pledged last week that it would not condemn single-family homes as part of its Strong Neighborhood Initiative program.  The $45 million government initiative has funded 95 projects 19 neighborhoods since its launch in 2002.  The Agency said nothing about whether it would continue to condemn multi-family residences, small businesses, agricultural land or places of worship for the benefit of private developers.[1]

“We understand that people may fear that their homes will somehow be taken through eminent domain for commercial purposes…. We want to assure our residents that it won’t happen,”[2] said executive director Harry Mavrogenes, whose agency recently designated Naglee Park—a neighborhood of million-dollar homes—and approximately 20 other downtown areas as “blighted,” giving it the authority to use eminent domain for private use under California Law.[3]  Reflective of California’s broad and sweeping “blight” statutes,[4] San Jose even went so far as declaring a beautiful home “blighted” because it had wet leaves on its private tennis court.

The Redevelopment Agency’s pledge carries with it symbolic authority, but it is not legally binding.  That is one of the reasons why it is crucial that the city council heeds the RDA’s call to “reconfirm its practice to not use eminent domain authority for any single-family, owner-occupied properties in the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative Project Area.”[5]  The council is scheduled to consider the request at a meeting on May 2, 2006.

If San Jose is genuinely committed to stopping eminent domain abuse within its borders, the City should go the distance and enact an ordinance prohibiting the transfer of all private property, not just single-family residential properties, from one person to another private party—something municipalities in the Golden State and nationwide have increasingly done since the U.S. Supreme Court’s outrageous decision in Kelo v. City of New London last summer.  For example, Anaheim passed Policy Directive 220, which forbids the use of eminent domain for private economic development.[6]

Meanwhile, the few remaining defenders of eminent domain abuse—typically developers, local officials and others who stand to gain from the practice—have successfully unleashed their lobbyists into the legislative halls of Sacramento and stalled meaningful eminent domain reform in one of the states that needs it most. 

That is particularly unfortunate, because California, which has more than 350 redevelopment agencies with eminent domain powers, is exceptionally prone to eminent domain for private profit; news reports over the past few months indicate 33 different projects involving condemnation for private use, and thousands of honest citizens are fighting tooth and nail to keep the beloved homes and small businesses they already rightfully own.

Let’s hope the San Jose RDA really is committed to economic development without eminent domain, and that City officials pen a real commitment against eminent domain abuse into law.  All citizens in San Jose and throughout the state deserve protection from the government’s wrecking ball—and it’s time the City acknowledges that in the most meaningful way: through its actions.

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