• cogman
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    21 hours ago

    One of the more fucked up aspects of eminent domain. City/county/state governments can nuke deeds by using eminent domain. It allows them to turn a plot of land, regardless prior restrictions, into things like dumps.

    The fucked up part about it is they can also turn public lands into private lands with that same trick.

    What’s frustrating is we still need eminent domain for good. It’s basically the only way to build railways and roads. It even ends up being one of the few ways to deploy things like district heating/cooling and new fiber lines.

    • kevinsky@feddit.nl
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      4 hours ago

      Serving the public interest is not already a prerequisite? Surely gov’t cannot arbitratily pull this card?

      I might be talking out of my ass but i’m pretty sure using imminent domain is not only needed for matters of public interest but specifically needs to be backed by it when you want to use it.

    • PalmTreeIsBestTree
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      17 hours ago

      I believe eminent domain should have a very limited scope legally and should mostly only be used for public infrastructure projects and housing honestly…

    • NocturnalMorning
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      13 hours ago

      We have different definitions of good. I don’t see how building a highway system through other animals homes is considered “good”.

      • kevinsky@feddit.nl
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        4 hours ago

        A road in of itself is definitely a public interest…

        Where they should and should not be built is another discussion.