172430 Resource 135547 120144 120144 1182274300474 1208013561469 Controlled Is Newhall Redevelopment Victimizing the Vulnerable?

Federal Kelo ruling on eminent domain is used to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more.

A recent national study called <a title="Victimizing the Vulnerable" href="http://www.ij.org/publications/other/demographic_study.html" target="_blank">Victimizing the Vulnerable: The Demographics of Eminent Domain Abuse</a> by the <a title="Institute for Justice" href="http://www.ij.org/" target="_blank">Institute of Justice</a> analyzed U.S. Census data to determine the profile of people subject to eminent domain abuse in 184 projects across the country, and found that the poor, less educated and minorities are disproportionately targets of eminent domain abuse.This is consistent with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor's fear that the federal Kelo ruling would be used "to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more," as indicated in her dissenting vote on this important ruling.In the Kelo ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that governments may seize non-blighted homes and turn them over to a private developer based on little more than a promise that the new owners could use the land in a way that might create more jobs and pay higher taxes. This should have a familiar ring to it by now, with the <a title="Old Town Newhall Revitalization Project" href="item/166793" target="_blank">Old Town Newhall Revitalization Project</a> in full swing with a primary emphasis on increasing sales tax and property tax revenues in the area by eliminating automotive and other service businesses and replacing them with the promise of a "boutique" destination shopping area. Also targeted are many of the homes and apartments currently occupied by those who are poorer and less educated than the typical Santa Clarita area resident.Chip Mellor of the <a title="Institute for Justice" href="http://www.ij.org/" target="_blank">Institute for Justice</a> says that "eminent domain doesn’t just kick people out of their homes, it uproots entire communities and social networks, which is especially devastating for those of lower-income, predominantly minority communities."Dr. Fullilove, a research psychiatrist at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and a professor of clinical psychiatry and public health at Columbia University states in her report <a title="Eminent Domain and African Americans" href="http://www.castlecoalition.org/publications/index.html" target="_blank">Eminent Domain & African Americans:  What is the Price of the Commons?</a> that "Eminent domain has become what the founding fathers sought to prevent:  a tool that takes from the poor and the politically weak to give to the rich and politically powerful." Dr. Fullilove also points out that "What the government takes from people is not a home, with a small ‘h’, but Home in the largest sense of the word:  a place in the world, a community, neighbors and services, a social and cultural milieu, an economic anchor that provides security during the ups and downs of life, a commons that sustains the group by offering shared goods and services."The "politically correct" word for this process is called "gentrification", which has a basic definition of "people of higher income moving into a neighborhood." A <a title="Gentrification" href="http://www.realtor.org/smart_growth.nsf/docfiles/winter07gentr.pdf/$FILE/winter07gentr.pdf" target="_blank">recent report</a> published by On Common Ground asks of gentrification: "Is it the blueprint for neighborhood improvement or displacement?" This report is available for download on <a title="Realtor.org" href="http://realtor.org/" target="_blank">Realtor.org</a> (the official site of the National Association of Realtors) and opens with the statement: "For some, it can signify many positives: affordable, unique housing stock with eye-catching architectural details, funky little boutiques and delightful ethnic eateries, bragging rights about a cool zip code. For others, it means nothing but negatives: rising rents, a sense of invasion, changing neighborhood identity and an uncertain future."William H. Hudnut, III, the former 5-term Indianapolis mayor, said that "The government has an obligation, as well as developers, to work with people and appropriately relocate them in the same neighborhood..." It's certainly no big secret that the downtown Newhall area is in need of updating, but does it really need to take the form of gentrification where the existing businesses and residents need to be removed to make room for the yuppie-style boutique stores that have been promised for the area? Or is it possible to keep some semblance of these neighborhoods and the business districts that serve them intact instead of uprooting entire communities and social networks in the area? And remember that not all of the businesses to be removed from downtown Newhall are those that serve only the minority communities... included on the City's "hit list" are service businesses (chiropractors, insurance agents, psychologists, etc), the <a title="Antique Flower Garden" href="http://antiqueflowergarden.net/" target="_blank">Antique Flower Garden</a>, the <a title="Assistance League of Santa Clarita" href="http://www.assistanceleague-alsc.org/" target="_blank">Assistance League of Santa Clarita</a>, and many other businesses fronting San Fernando Road. Yes, we all know that many would welcome a bundle of new boutique stores to the Santa Clarita area, but with the upcoming <a title="Valencia Mall" href="http://valenciatowncenter.com/" target="_blank">Valencia Mall</a> expansion, Bridgeport Marketplace and the planned <a title="The Commons" href="item/167885" target="_blank">The Commons</a> development as well as many more blossoming strip malls throughout the area, there will likely be no shortage of shopping resources in the Santa Clarita Valley within the next few years. It remains unclear whether this "boutique" environment envisioned for Old Town Newhall can become a reality in the near future, since the City's studies have yet to prove that they can attract an anchor store to the Newhall area, and without at least one anchor store, the boutiques will likely locate themselves elsewhere since their very lives depend on the traffic generated by quality anchor stores. 10 application/xml false boutique downtown newhall eminent domain gentrification institute for justice kelo newhall boutique newhall eminent domain newhall redevelopment newhall revitalization old town newhall santa clarita Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; SU 3.011; .NET CLR 1.0.3705; Media Center PC 3.1) 127.0.0.1 127.0.0.1 lslocum 76.171.62.15 false true false false true 181698 false false true false false false true 135547 blog blogsite/SantaClaritaRealEstate/web