DISD’s Hot Potato

In 2009, DISD officials focused their eyes on the Jubilee Park community, an ethnically diverse but largely Latin American neighborhood and with the help of eminent domain, businesses were being forced to close and households were pushed out of the neighborhood, and a historical school was demolished after millions in renovations. 

So, when the residents obtained a copy of the I-30 Connecting Dallas plan and Jubilee Park Revitalization plan stamped with town homes all over them, well that was a hint that maybe DISD’s officials were lying, they said, “Oh, no. We have no such plan.” of course, DISD’s officials lied to the public.  So, they used eminent domain to clear off properties just for parking lots.  Does that make sense?    This project is in complete violation of the city zoning.

Americans, consider their home to be their castles, this has been the fulfillment of our American dream.   But lately, DISD and eminent domain have had the potential to destroy lives, destroy livelihoods, by uprooting people from their homes and businesses.  Home owners and business beware, because politically connected interest groups want what is yours.  They pick off these property owners one at a time.  Then hire their attorneys who get paid on a taxpayer dime.  It’s a very mean process.  You can lose everything if a developer has the ear of the Board or city council.  They work closely with these officials who have a vision for what they would like to build on your property.  While the politicians will look like visionaries because there’s this new shopping area or town home development, the only people who suffer are the property owners, and our government entities don’t care about them.

DISD and City officials will offer well below the known market value, also known as just compensation (getting pennies on the dollar) or they engage in growth capture. Just as an area’s about to boom, they call it blighted and then they pay the home owner / business owner based on the old market rate and then give it to developers who in turn reap all the gain. These redevelopment robber barons are taking what is yours and getting rich, rich, rich.

But, there is good news in this. And that is that people are trying, state by state, locality by locality, to protect property rights. Now we’ve got a long way to go. We’re not anywhere near successful and have a lot of work to do.  But at least we’re not laboring in vain. People know what we’re talking about when we say eminent domain.  They understand that it is a powerful destruction tool and that it’s really a hard battle to fight .So, join our movement, stand up for your rights, stand up for liberty and freedom for all. Don’t let entities like DISD win, they should help  preserve communities not destroy them.  They are taking what is yours.