My main source for this article is a news item found in the November 27, 2009, issue of THE WEEK. I have not linked to the site, because you need to be a subscriber to the magazine to read the articles on the site. The background information for the article comes from a website called the Institute for Justice.
In June of 2005, the United States Supreme Court ruled that the City of New London, Connecticut, could, under the rule of eminent domain, seize the homes of several homeowners in order to use the land for a purpose that would generate more tax revenue for the City. One of the homeowners, Susette Kelo, challenged the City's right to do that, and the case eventually went before the US Supreme Court. Unfortunately, the Court ruled that the City could take the land of one property owner and give it to another person. This was a horrible ruling, and undermined the whole concept of protecting private property ownership, but it happened.
So let's look at where we are now. The taking of the property was used to lure Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company to New London to build a research center. Pfizer Pharmaceutical Company arrived, built its New London research center on the seized property, and this week announced that it was closing the plant. Most of the plants 1,400 employees will be relocated to nearby Groton.
Now the City of New London won't even have the tax revenue from the people who once lived in that area of New London. They will simply have a vacant research center. Poetic justice at its best.
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