When Eminent Domain Arrives In Your Junk Mail

Marcos M. Villatoro responds to receiving a "clumsy, ham-fisted" form letter from the Los Angeles Unified School District informing him that his house is one of the many to be taken to build a new elementary school.

1 minute read

April 2, 2007, 2:00 PM PDT

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech

"My interpretation: Not only can the government take my land without my permission, it can also set the price. And...it can bulldoze a community that's taken decades to build...Over the years, I've learned to be mistrustful. I don't take much to the phrase "the greater good." ...The school district's ability to use eminent domain may blind it to what its power does to the folks on the ground...We meet on the sidewalk, something we've done for a dozen years. Because this is that type of neighborhood. We throw block parties a couple of times a year...We hand over our house keys to one another while on vacation. We're the Latino-Jewish-white-Armenian Wilmas and Bettys, gossiping at the fence...Something that was once so safe, the place you ran to when afraid or tired, can be taken away. Just like that - with a form letter, dressed up as junk mail."

FULL STORY: Don't destroy my neighborhood, LAUSD

Sunday, April 1, 2007 in The Los Angeles Times

Community / Economic Development Land Use California

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