Don't pay for eminent domain

In the last year, the specter of eminent domain has reared it's head in several controversial cases. We currently find one case where one small business owner, located in East Topeka for 16+ years, is having his property “acquired” by the city to facilitate the construction of a new intersection in the area of Golden Ave, 6th Street and 10th Street.

In this particular case, the issue is not whether the city has the right to utilize eminent domain, the issue is the amount of compensation the city wants to pay this long-term citizen and taxpayer for his property.

In almost every case, even when eminent domain is justified, it seems that there is a dispute over what represents a fair and just compensation for the land owner. The government entity always wants to purchase as cheaply as possible, whereas the land owner will always want more.

One way to address this solution is simply to not pay any money at all!

Woah! This is a radical concept. But yes, I did say it, the city should NOT pay this gentleman any money at all.

Rather, the city should seek out three or four available properties that are similar in location, size and accessibility as the current property, let the owner choose which of the properties he likes, then the city should pay all purchase and relocation costs to get the landowner onto that new property.

In doing this, the issue of how much the original land owners property was worth is moot. The city will pay more, because they are forcing a person to move, and the person being relocated can no longer complain about whether it is “fair” or not.

The simplest solution when government is fighting a citizen over money, is to simply, take the money out of the equation.