Welcome to the Future!
Add Portland, Oregon to the list of cities making up for past uses of eminent domain that disproportionately impacted Black neighborhoods.
What are the basics of the Portland Program?
HB 448 (2021 | TX) would allow property owners, whose land is treated by eminent domain by a private entity regulated by the Texas Railroad Commission (read: pipelines), to sue that pipeline if it violated the Landowner Bill of Rights or its spirit.
What does this mean? If the company is using the Land Owner Bill of Rights to harass, intimidate, or otherwise mislead – yeah, that qualifies.
The Attorney General can also seek civil recovery under this bill.
Huntsville Item | Texas legislative session begins next week with COVID-19 changing normal process
Where: Monterey County California
Who do you win this chance to use eminent domain? Win the vacant seat on the Monterey Peninsula Water Management District.
How is Monterey Peninsula Water Management District using eminent domain? Buying the water system of the Monterey Peninsula from its private owner, California American Water.
How big of a deal is this? If successful, it is said to be valued at over $1 Billions and the largest value use of eminent domain in history
What do I need to know about Amazon’s program to fund affordable housing solutions near its offices in Virginia, Tennessee and Washington?
Tech companies have faced criticism over driving up home prices in the Bay Area that displaced longtime residents
The Hill | Amazon to spend $2 billion on housing near key company offices
COVID lockdowns were they compensable as a taking of property? The courts will decide. Legislatures will dance around it in 2021. Some states are utilizing COVID funds to reimburse small businesses that experienced Rioter/Looter damage.
Property rights issues ran the gamut from the impact of Black Lives Matter in historical property acquisition, to how eminent domain is more cost effective than building new affordable housing in LA, and to creating property rights in your data.
As we’re all eating outside more to keep our local restaurants alive, ALEC has model mobile food vendor legislation.
South Padre Island, TX had set limits on the number of food truck permits at 12 and required permission from a restaurant owner.
How did South Padre Island get there? Until 2016, the island banned food trucks. Then with local restaurant lobbying adopted the cap and approval requirement.
Similar rules have been overturned in San Antonio, El Paso and Louisville.
Santa Fe New Mexico strengthened its short term rental rules this week.
In the clarification the difference between short term rentals in commercial zoned property and residential zoned property are clear.
What requirements are on commercially zoned short term rentals?
How are residential zoned short term rentals treated?
The City: Knoxville, TN
The proposal: $100M to address removing people from their property from the 1950s through 1970s under urban removal policies that displaced and marginalized residents, mostly Black
Funding mechanism: City revenue + local, state and national grants
How was eminent domain used during this time? The city utilized eminent domain to systematically tear down entire blocks of homes, churches and businesses in the Black community for projects like the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum and construction of new routes like James White Parkway and Interstate 40
Which governmental entities will be involved in this project? New Community Empowerment Department
Did Knoxville follow another city’s lead? Yes, Asheville, North Carolina proposed a similar program earlier this year
The CARES Act saw California and Oregon use funds to purchase temporary housing in hotels for homeless.
Oregon is moving beyond this, by spending $65 Million to purchase 20 underused hotels to provide housing for homeless.
What is Oregon’s project called? Oregon’s Project Turnkey
Who will operate the hotels turned homeless housing? nonprofit housing and social services providers will own and run the hotels-turned-housing
A University of Washington study shows that moving the homeless into hotels slowed the spread of the infection.
PEW | Prompted by Pandemic, Some States Buy Hotels for the Homeless
Examples of land use ordinances and the racial disparity impact: