Kelo: free speech addition

robeiae

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What does the Kelo decision have to do with issues of free speech? Very little.

Yet on of the consequences of Kelo--cities feeling more empowered to flex their eminent domain muscles--has pushed to the forefront an issue of signage and free speech:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opini...25c698-64bd-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html

But Old Dominion University (ODU) is nearby and covetous. It wants the land on which Central Radio sits, and through ODU’s Real Estate Foundation it is well along toward seizing it by inciting the city government to wield the power of eminent domain. Condemnation proceedings against Central Radio have moved to the compensation phase. Dickinson says that the compensation will be insufficient to enable the business to construct a comparable building, let alone buy land for it. ODU, whose plans for the neighborhood remain interestingly vague and may include a shopping center, is exploiting the judicial evisceration of the Fifth Amendment’s takings clause...

The company put up a banner protesting what was happening. And:

The city, acting on a complaint by ODU’s Real Estate Foundation — the entity trying to seize the company’s property — says that the size of the full sign violates Norfolk’s sign code.
Nevermind that the city has basically ignored this code, nevermind that the banner was all on private property. The banner is bad press for the city and ODU, thus it's being targeted.


This concludes my imitation of Don. :)
 

robeiae

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