FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Stephen Gordon
stephen@gordonemail.com
(256) 874-2985
From Rosa Parks to the Kelo decision, property rights haven’t improved for Alabama’s racial minorities and socio-economically disadvantaged
Upcoming Civil Rights Commission panel to highlight eminent domain abuses
Using what he describes as “eminent domain through the back door” in “the cradle of the modern civil rights movement,” University of Alabama history professor and chair of the Alabama State Advisory Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights David Beito is on the frontlines of a battle in Alabama to ensure that racial minorities and the socio-economically disadvantaged are provided the same protections of their property rights others enjoy.
In a soon-to-be published op-ed, Beito notes the case of Jimmy McCall.
“It was more my dream house,” [McCall] laments, “and the city tore it down….It reminds me of how they used to mistreat black people in the Old South.”
In yet another case, Beito reports:
For almost five years, [Idi Amin refugee Jim Peera] has fought a pitched battle with City Hall over his plan to renovate a strategic parcel of 121 apartments in the heart of the Rosa Parks Community, and rent them to low-income senior citizens. Montgomery has a multi-million dollar development plan for his eight-acre site and is using “blight” to condemn and demolish it. Peera has withstood multiple setbacks on his investment including unfounded criminal charges by the city and mysterious fires on his solid block structures. He has repeatedly tried to sell to or partner with the city for a much needed affordable housing development, but it has rebuffed him. “They’re used to forcing black folks to give their properties up via imposing hefty demolition liens, as opposed to buying land at fair market value” he says. Most recently, the city tried to further devalue Peera’s property by reducing the density from “multifamily” to single family, thus making it impossible to provide affordable low-income housing. Although Peera won in two courts, local bureaucrats, much like they are doing with McCall, meet his legal victories with appeals and other delays.
Alabama has gained national notoriety for eminent domain abuses in the past, most notably in Alabaster case heavily publicized by nationally syndicated radio talk show host Neal Boortz.
On Wednesday, April 29, Beito will be chairing a panel for the Alabama Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The panel is entitled “Civil Rights Implications of Eminent Domain Policies and Practices in Alabama.”
Confirmed speakers will include Rev. John E. Smith of the Evergreen Missionary Baptist Church, representatives of the Alabaster Alabama community, Montgomery business owner Jim Peera, Montgomery business owner Jimmy McCall, Montgomery attorney Norman Hurst, State Senator Scott Beason, ADECA Compliance Officer Paula Murphy, Jefferson County Land Development Department representative Michael Morrison.
Other speakers will probably be on hand, as well as members of the community negatively impacted by Alabama’s eminent domain policies.
The panel will be conducted from 9AM to 5PM on April 29 at the Montgomery Campus of Troy University in the Gold Room of the Whitley Conference Hall. The street address is 231 Montgomery Street, Montgomery, AL 36104.
Videotaped testimony of some of the victims is available here. The entire agenda of the panel is available here.
Alabama’s Stop Eminent Domain Abuse is a grassroots organization dedicated to the protection of property rights for all Alabamians.
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