'Eminent Domain Saved My Business'

"An advocacy group based outside of Minnesota is fueling this so-called 'battle' over property rights. That's an important distinction because none of them stood by me when my customers started falling away to avoid a nearby dumpsite that was heavily polluted. None of them put any money into the neighborhoods that surrounded this dump, so the houses and businesses like mine started to deteriorate. None of them worked to employ my out-of-work neighbors."

"If the St. Paul Port Authority had not been able to use eminent domain on one of six parcels that would ultimately comprise the Great Northern Business Center, we would probably not be in business today.

Cities and redevelopment agencies like the Port Authority need at least to have the ability to use eminent domain to clean up heavily polluted sites like the one two blocks from my store and to assemble tracts of polluted and dilapidated property for redevelopment. Why? Because no one else will do it."