Monday, January 09, 2006

For Target & Home Depot

In this news item we find that the power of eminent domain may be used for big box stores:
If you own a small business in Richfield, then you may be targeted for eminent domain abuse. That's because the City of Richfield has placed a bull's-eye on small businesses along Cedar Avenue just west of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, and plans to remove them in favor of two big-box retailers and other private development.

'Our business is location-driven,' says Marv Johnson, founder of Air Carego Shipping. 'It's essential that we be next to the airport.' But Richfield doesn't see it that way. Its plans call for Target, Home Depot and other stores to push Johnson's business out of the location it has been in for nearly 22 years — even though there are other Target and Home Depot stores less than five miles away.
Once again, we have government taking property used by one business to be used later by a different business.

[Nick Dranias, "Capricious use of eminent domain hampers businesses," TwinCities.com, Jan. 05, 2006]

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