MEDIUM RARE
by Jim Rarey

May 4, 2001

CITY COLLUSION WITH CONTRACTORS?

Two bills have been introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives that would allow municipalities to target individual pieces of property for confiscation and transfer to developers using the pretext of blight.

The two bills, H.B.4028 and H.B. 4033 were introduced in January of this year by two Republicans, Andrew Richner of District #1 in Wayne County and Nancy Cassis of District #38 in Oakland County.

Baldly stated in the purpose of H.B. 4028 is the following, "A bill to establish procedures for municipalities to designate individual lots or structures as blighting; to purchase or condemn blighting property; and to transfer blighting property to developers."

H.B. 4033 is short and to the point. It would change the rules of evidence to allow hearsay evidence as the basis to establish "probable cause" to start the ball rolling.

Most city ordinances provide for a grace period for the owner or manager of property to abate alleged nuisances before any further action is taken by the city. Not so under this legislation.

The first inkling the owner or manager of the property would have that there is an alleged problem would be a notice that the city is starting proceedings against him.

The proposed procedure would facilitate, indeed invite collusion between developers and city government to expropriate private property and deliver it to another private person.

In addition to developers, the bill would authorize cities to turn "blighting" property over to other city agencies run by appointed officials, e.g. Downtown Development Authorities, Economic Development Corporations, and even to other non-governmental non-profit organizations.

It would also authorize the cities to pass ordinances allowing the city to bribe the owner into relinquishing the property by offering forgiveness of debt and tax breaks.

This is obviously an end run around the current requirement that the exercise of eminent domain must disclose the intended use of the property.

By only claiming "blighting" the city, after obtaining title, could then transfer the property to any party it wished. This would also bypass long-standing procedures for disposal of city owned property through competitive sealed bids.

While this legislation will probably receive the support of some of the big lobbying organizations in Lansing, e.g. contractors and municipal associations, a firestorm of opposition from ordinary citizens could derail it.

Michigan residents are urged to contact your State Representative as soon as you can and express your opinion forcefully.

Permission is granted to reproduce this article in its entirety.

The author is a free lance writer based in Romulus, Michigan. He is  former newspaper editor and investigative reporter, a retired customs administrator and accountant, and a student of history and the U.S. Constitution.