March 14, 2007: Excavation around house

[Armygrognard]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

I'm not selling to you developers!

Ah yes, the reluctant dweller. Here in the US, we have zoning laws to ensure that landowners can't just do whatever they want with their property, and eminent domain laws to ensure that the government can take it from them if someone more powerful wants the land for something else.

For the most part, we also have developers that don't begin work unless everything's ready. Don't want to waste the labor in digging a big hole, if you're just gonna have to fill it in again.

According to the full story, the owners have connections with the government. But now they have no connection to the world, as the excavation is 40 feet deep. Watch that first step, it's a doozy.

I wouldn't be so sure about the U.S. and any laws protecting us. As we saw in the Kelso case in Connecticutt, the homeowners lost, and the Supreme Court affirmed the eminent domain action. In numerous other states, similar attempts are made every year. While I was in Georgia, the State Legislature attempted a bill that would allow the eminent domain proceedings to go on in private, and the first you, the homeowner, would hear about it is when you were served the paperwork. It was defeated/killed, fortunately.

The Supreme Court effectively said U.S. citizens have no property rights. The good news is some states are enacting laws to further protect the citizens, so some good may have come from it. Still, I don't like what that decision portends.