OPINION: Can eminent domain promote needed growth for Detroit?
You never know for sure, of course, and journalism is filled with columnists (including me) who thought
The challenger was trounced in the August primary, losing to
Yet, what happens after the election is over?
But he adds that it's not nearly enough.
Not if
"During his second term,
Now 78, he's been intimately involved with the city ever since, serving on everything from the
Old-timers remember his inspiring "Walking John" campaign for mayor in 1973, when he didn't win, but inspired thousands by walking the streets of as many neighborhoods as possible.
Now, he says
Eminent domain.
Back in 1981, the city used eminent domain to seize a neighborhood called "Poletown" on the
The move was bitterly controversial, though said by the state courts to be legal at the time. But in 2004, the
Many hailed that decision. "The
But
"We've got a lot of vacant land [24 square miles]," Mayor Duggan told me in August, "but it is in a checkerboard of one and two-lot parcels," with no no easy way to assemble it.
As proof that eminent domain can work, he noted that the city used it to acquire land for two auto plants -- Poletown, formally known as the
Beyond that, however, he thinks a re-elected Mayor Duggan needs to do some other things to lay the foundation for the city's future, including adopting a modern and realistic master plan.
Simply put,
Again, this is something that would be a lot easier to do if the city had the right to make judicious use of eminent domain.
There are other things
That doesn't mean,
He thinks, however, that once re-elected, the mayor will have both a duty and a chance that may never come again to set
That might be the best indication of how important for this state this election -- and the decisions flowing from it -- may be.
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