Neighborhood blight, as properly understood, looks like this:
It is not difficult to comprehend. ‘Blight’ as redefined by self-serving authoritarian bureaucrats (these particular politicians hailing from Nashville), however, looks more like this:
I am happy to report that the lawsuit was settled out-of-court after the Institute for Justice took up the case of Country International Records, a long-standing business on Nashville’s famed Music Row.
“I am not interested in selling my property at any price; this isn’t about money for me,” said Joy Ford, who founded Country International along with her late husband in 1974. “This is about principle. I just want to hold on to a business that has meant so much to my family and a lot of other folks in country music. I should have the right to do that in the United States of America.”
Nashville City had sought to condemn the business under a contrived definition of ‘blight’ in spite of the fact that the Tennessee legislature strengthened the law in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Kelo v. New London decision to prevent such abuses.
If they tried it before, they will try again. Remain diligent.
Blight abuse is rampant across the country as cities attempt to perform end-runs around protections many state legislatures enacted due to public outrage over Kelo.