Kelo New London Crunch Night: The Map, The Situation, The Homes, and Advance Commentary Roundup

This post will be updated and kept near the top through most of the day. For full background, go to The Kelo New London Collection.
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The Map:

The image is from Google Earth. It is not current in that most of the properties except those of the holdouts have been razed. The placement and status of the holdout and recently settled properties is up to date. The map has been updated for Italian Dramatic Club’s “exceptional” presence, i.e. its ability to stay (see this post for more).

The Situation:

• As of early last week, the City of New London and the New London Development Corporation (NLDC) had proposed that the holdout-occupied homes (not the rental properties) be moved to an area with Parcel 4A that is not in the way of current development plans; that the NLDC would retain the titles to the properties that were taken back in 2000; and that the holdouts would pay rent for the rest of their lives or until they vacated the premises, whichever came first. (Everyone agrees that the Kelo and Cristafaro homes are holdout-occupied; there is disagreement as to whether one of the three Von Winkle properties will be considered holdout-occupied for settlement purposes.)
• The holdouts had agreed to the movement of the holdout-occupied properties, but had refused to accede to the idea of paying lifetime rent.
• Council had imposed a dealine of May 31 on the holdouts for agreeing to house movement and lifetime rent, or face $946,000 in assessments for back rents, property taxes, and other fees.
• As the Council’s deadline passed or shortly thereafter, three of the six holdouts (identified on the map above) settled.
• In two letters to New London Mayor Elizabeth Sabilia last week, Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell made it very clear that she feels the resident holdouts should be given titles to the homes that are transferable to immediate family members. Any attempted sale to non-family members would trigger a right of first refusal by the City.
• In a letter, (go to Update 4 at link) New London Mayor Elizabeth Sabilia responded to the Governor by insisting that any title transfers (what Sabilia refers to as a “deed of …. [life-time] interest” in her letter) be limited to only the lifetimes of the current holdouts, and not be transferable to immediate family members. That letter from Sabilia, by inference, appears to mean that the idea of lifetime rent and NLDC retention of the titles has gone by the wayside.
• The mayor was also memorably quoted as saying that “There are people in the City of New London who are livid, absolutely livid, that this has gone on this long. It’s the majority I’ve been hearing.” This seems to fly in the face of three things: an online but still likely reliable New London Day poll last week that showed 78% support for the holdouts’ position; resident sentiment that has continually been expressed in favor of the holdouts at previous council meetings; and the near electoral coup last November, when the Council’s three-vote Democrat majority was cut to one, and survived the loss of majority status by only 19 votes. Council’s current makeup is four Democrats (including Sabilia), one Republican, and two members of the upstart One New London Party.
• It is probable that the majority only survived because of what many believe was an orchestrated and insincere “divorce” by Council from the NLDC after the NLDC had earned nationwide scorn for its heavyhanded issuance of eviction notices and demands for back rent and taxes last summer, in defiance of Governor Rell’s request for forbearance. Council and the NLDC “reconciled” two weeks before the election after the head of the NLDC stepped down.
• Tonight, Council decides tonight whether to go with the Mayor’s, the Governor’s, or some other alternative.

The Two Holdout-Occupied Homes:

The Kelo and Cristafaro Homes

New London Day Letter to the Editor Nails It

In advance of tonight’s New London City Council meeting, where the fate of the Kelo holdouts largely hangs in the balance, Sara Ingram of Deep River, CT tells The New London Day why it’s so important (Day link requires registration, and paid subscription after one week):

Eminent Domain Shows How Power Can Destroy

Every day I read The Day to see what is happening to Susette Kelo’s property because what happens to the “little pink house” defines what it means to live in a democracy. Can the rich working in groups really steal from the poor? Why do the leaders of the New London Development Corp., (NLDC) who do not live in New London, make decisions for those living there? Why would any middle-income person buy property and fix it up as an investment, if the city could decide that it wanted the land for a building that would bring more tax dollars? Why keep your property nice if the government is going to condemn it?

….. There can be no reason the NLDC needs the existing homeowners’ properties to go on with development plans if they are offering the homeowners lifetime use of the properties.

Title to the properties should have been given back to the homeowners, and the city could build around them. We all know that stealing is a sin.

Rossputin Writes to Rell

Blogger Rossputin’s letter to Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell said, in part:

The Supreme Court Kelo decision was a travesty, a disgraceful abandonment of the Constitution, obviously wrong, and one of the gravest threats I have ever seen to the basic foundation of American life: one’s home.

I urge you to use every official power, every bit of moral suasion, and any other method you can think of that is not illegal to save Ms. Kelo from the rapacious city council and their devilish alliance with land-grabbing developers.

I am an ardent capitalist. I have nothing against big business, land developers, etc. But business is done by handshake, not at the point of a gun. What is happening to Suzette Kelo is simply theft. You, as the highest state official in Connecticut owe it to her to defend her from the criminals even if those criminals were also elected.

New London Day Editorial Makes One Point Crystal Clear

The editorial unsurprisingly comes out in favor of Council holding its ground, siding with the mayor, and rejecting the Governor’s proposed solution. The editorial’s biggest point, and probably the most revealing window into the thought process of the city’s power structure that we’ll see before tonight, is this (requires registration after one day, and paid subscription after one week):

The governor’s plan would transfer the titles back to the former property owners. Mayor Sabilia’s plan would not.

The rest of the editorial raises what appear to me to be very specious legalistic objections. When I spoke with Scott Bullock at The Institute for Justice earlier today, he agreed with that assessment, which seems credible to me, given the “exceptional treatment” of the Italian Dramatic Club mapped above and discussed at the next post.

As noted above, Mayor Sabilia calls the lifetime tenancy she and Council favor a “deed of …. [life-time] interest.” It’s clear they will do anything and everything but allow those precious titles to go back to the holdouts. From here (especially given the new items I’ve learned that are in the next post), it appears that there’s nothing other than that three-letter word that starts with “e” and “o” preventing them from doing so.