Do you remember Sgt. Joe Friday from the old “Dragnet” television show? I I watched it religiously as a kid, and I loved actor Jack Webb with his deadpan demeanor and monotone delivery. “Just the facts, Ma’am,” he’d always ask.
I’m thinking of Sgt. Friday as I consider the 2006 session of the Colorado legislature. He always got right to the point, and so will I.
Right now, we are in a debate over eminent domain and the Kelo decision. There is so much misinformation and rhetoric on this issue right now that I want to toss out just four facts:
Cities and towns do not use eminent domain indiscriminately, and in fact hardly even use it at all. Research conducted by the league indicates that between 1999 and 2005, of the 40 urban renewal authorities currently active in the state, 31 have not used their powers at all. Only six have completed eminent domain proceedings in order to assemble properties for redevelopment purposes.
Have lawmakers forgotten that in fact they spent all session – and I mean all session – in 2004 writing House Bill 1203, which significantly and substantively amended the state’s urban renewal law to provide new protections to private property owners?
Most notably, as a result of the General Assembly’s actions, a city council or town board must base its decision on a finding of blight or slum conditions without regard to the economic performance of the property to be acquired in order to use eminent domain as part of an urban renewal project.
Put another way, you can’t go out and utilize eminent domain solely for economic development purposes; you have to make strict findings regarding slum conditions and blight. And, by the way, have lawmakers also forgotten that the definition of blight has been tightened up several times the past few sessions? And all this was done before the Supreme Court’s Kelo decision.
The Colorado Supreme Court weighed in on this in 2004 and opined in a significant case that urban renewal authorities lacked both the legal authority and a valid public purpose to take property through condemnation without a proper and legally constituted blight analysis. In addition, the Colorado Constitution spells out rather clearly when and how condemnation may be used. Those are facts, not conjecture.
Municipal leaders were elected by the same people electing state lawmakers. Municipal leaders understand full well the court of public opinion and are in touch with it every day – on the street corner, at the supermarket and at city council and town board meetings.
The power to use eminent domain as part of urban renewal is viewed quite seriously by city and town leaders, but it is an important tool to advance the redevelopment of our communities.
Before our honorable state lawmakers toss all of this upside down and inside out, perhaps they ought to follow the advice of Sgt. Joe Friday – and concentrate on just the facts.
Sam Mamet is executive director of the Colorado Municipal League, a statewide advocacy organization of 265 cities and towns. This article was adapted from a column in the league’s magazine.
