Peoria knows a lot about eminent domain for private gain. They used it to build the half-abandoned MidTown Plaza. Well, one Long Branch, N.J. neighborhood fought back and the city caved in after along battle.

“Today’s agreement finally ends this government-created nightmare that was imposed upon these Long Branch homeowners,” said Scott Bullock, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice which, along with noted New Jersey eminent domain lawyers Peter H. Wegener and William Ward, represented the homeowners. “With this agreement, the neighborhood can be restored to the kind of wonderful community it was before the city and the developer targeted it. These modest, proudly-maintained homes will no longer be threatened by the bulldozers.”

“At long last, we can get our homes, lives and neighborhood back,” said Lori Vendetti, who owns one of the homes across the street from the house her parents bought more than 40 years ago—a home where her mother still resides. “I am so glad my father and the other seniors in the neighborhood were able to live out their days in their homes, but I wish they could have been here to see this wonderful conclusion.” Lori’s father, Carmen Vendetti, passed away in June of this year while still battling to protect the home the former truck driver built for his family.

Under the terms of the agreement announced today, the city must dismiss the eminent domain actions filed against the MTOTSA homeowners in 2005. (MTOTSA is an acronym for the streets Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace and Seaview Avenue, the neighborhood targeted for eminent domain for private gain.) Just as important, the order also provides that the city is barred from taking the homes in the future under the current or any subsequent redevelopment plan. The agreement further provides that the homeowners can take advantage of tax abatements, just as the city-designated developer was permitted to do, for reinvesting in their properties. The city is also paying a portion of the attorneys’ fees for the homeowners.

Wow. This is a big, big victory for property rights. It’s something Peoria neighborhood groups will have to remember if the city gets itching to grab more land on behalf of millionaires.

So after thinking carefully about my potential legal exposure, I have decided not to say that Royall is an arrogant, thin-skinned cheater who thinks nothing of abusing the legal process and violating other people’s rights to advance his business interests and protect his vanity. Although that opinion is completely protected by the First Amendment as criticism of a public figure and speech about an issue of public importance, Royall still could sue me. And as the Institute for Justice, which is representing Main, Epstein, and Encounter Books, points out, even if defamation lawsuits against critics of eminent domain abuse fail in court, “the large expenditure of time and money associated with defending them all too often accomplishes the goal of silencing those who stand up for their rights.” With that in mind, I have decided to refrain from calling Royall a corrupt coward, a litigious leech, or a supersensitive censor. I encourage you to refrain from doing so as well.

Thank God for restraint.

Not so much in Schaumberg, according to the Schaumburg Freedom Coalition:

This property is home to a Sara Lee/Market Day outlet store that has given back hundreds of thousands of dollars back to the local community over the many years of its existence. This small store shown a great deal of concern for the people of our community that not many other local businesses can match.

It is also home to Hair Clip, whose owner escaped the oppression of communist Vietnam to live and work in the greatest bastion of freedom, the United States of America. Now that the Village of Schaumburg is looking to kick these people out of their businesses we are learning that the land of the free isn’t so free after all.

When private property can be taken away simply because someone with a lot of money wants it, then none of us are really any better off than serfs.

Even though the Kelo Decision didn’t go the way that people who care about property rights wanted, I think it did open a lot of eyes. I’m sorry it didn’t happen in Schaumburg.

But I’m worried that with the economy tanking and people in a panic, the politicians and the developers will be scaring people into turing a blind eye toward this kind of eminent domain abuse. After all, there are jobs at stake. 

Feh.