Whole Foods Market is gathering signatures against eminent domain use in California.

As I walked into Whole Foods Market today, I was greeted just outside the door by a lady gathering signatures against the use of eminent domain in California.

Nifty idea, I thought, until I heard her spiel…

In order to be truly effective at her signature-gathering quest, someone really needed to provide some training on how to do a quick "elevator speech" on eminent domain. Too many people just shook their heads as they walked by, not understanding at all what she was talking about.

Too bad… With the City of Santa Clarita writing itself pretty much a blank check in regards to the use of eminent domain, there needs to be some awareness of what it really means as well as some control over the blatant use of it for purely economic purposes. And not just for downtown (or Old Town)Newhall residents and business owners, since the proposed Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital expansion involves some eminent domain aspects as well.

In a nutshell, "eminent domain" means that the government (City, County, State, Federal) can take a property from a private owner (that’s you and me, with either residential, commercial, or residential rental property) and give it to someone else (likely a developer) to either build on for profit (as in strip malls and the like which create more revenues for the government via sales tax and property taxes) or to create a "public use" (theoretically roads, fire stations, hospitals, etc. but now more broadly defined) in an area.

In the case of Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital, the proposed expansion includes taking some private residences via eminent domain to acquire the needed land for expansion. Although this plan is still in limbo, some long-term Valencia residents may be facing eviction so their homes can be torn down to make room for parking lots and the like.

In the case of downtown (Old Town) Newhall area businesses and residents, the use of eminent domain is purely economic (as in raising sales tax and property tax revenues) hidden under the covers of "upgrading" the area. The City’s own Retail Opportunities Analysis proves this point, with a focus on generating sales tax dollars in the area by changing the business mix (service business are given the boot since they don’t create sales tax dollars) and creating more retail space in the area. I won’t get into this study’s flaws here, since they’re covered elsewhere, but suffice it to say that this plan really doesn’t make sense as it stands.

Knock, knock! Who’s there? The City! The City who? The City of Santa Clarita who’s taking your property to increase local tax revenues. Say what???

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