Anti-Eminent Domain Meeting Successful

A group of freedom loving Chicagoans met at the Lincoln Restaurant at 4008 N. Lincoln Avenue on Tuesday evening, March 11. The excellent recap was written by Ralf Seiffe – ralf29@att.net , the moderator of Tuesday night’s events provided the text of the recap and Rich Johns, another speaker, added the links. The meeting had approximately 40 people in the audience. A lively conversation followed several speakers. Also in attendance was Antoine Members, who is running for Congress in the 1st Congressional District against (Black Panther) Bobby Rush. Mr. Members is strongly anti-eminent domain. I intend to write more about this issue for a long time. I hope fellow bloggers - liberal, conservative, Left, Right, Democrat, Republican - can all agree that the abuse of eminent domain is an abuse of human rights. This issue cuts across all political lines. It's really that simple, folks. Finally, I hope that groups such as the Castle Coalition, the Save Lincoln Square folks, and the recently defeated Lawndale Coalition Recap of Chicago Town Hall Meeting on Eminent Domain Tuesday night (3-11-2008) saw another lively meeting of Chicago ’s Town Hall Conservatives at its regular monthly dinner at the Lincoln Restaurant. This month’s topic was Eminent Domain as seen from a practical, theoretical and an historic point-of-view another year after the Kelo Supreme Court decision. Three perspectives were presented by Imre Hidvegi, an owner of Chicago Soccer; John Tillman, CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute and by Ralf Seiffe, Moderator, respectively. Alderman Gene Schulter was also invited to add the government’s perspective. Unfortunately neither the Alderman nor a representative appeared; we understand that the Alderman may be suffering from a new municipal disease known by the initials “E.D.”. This topic logically follows last month’s Tax Increment Financing topic. It is related and timely because Chicago is busy with at least two large-scale municipal takings in the Lawndale neighborhood and in Lincoln Square . One of the targets is Mr. Hidvegi’s business, Chicago Soccer - www.chicagosoccer.net , a large sports retailer located on Western Avenue just north of Lawrence . He recently learned that the city was targeting his business to turn it into a parking lot in one of three plans apparently supported by the truant alderman. Mr. Hidvegi reported that he later met with city officials who were unable to tell him what his business would be provided in the plan or whether he would even own his property under the plan. It is easy to understand why he thinks the city’s plan is simply a scheme to “steal” his property. Nevertheless, a coalition has formed to challenge the city and the neighbors have derailed the city’s plans—at least temporarily. John Tillman is the CEO of the Illinois Policy Institute, a fast-rising think tank devoted to expanding liberty and free markets in the hostile environment of Illinois . - www.illinoispolicyinstitute.org . Mr. Tillman asked why ostensibly conservative politicians begin to move left soon after taking office and why leftish politicians just continue to move further left. His answer was the irresistible lobbying by those who benefit from government spending. The solution, he reported, is to add a third source of influence that operates outside of the political parties and politicians. He said it is a mistake for liberty lovers to put our faith in politicians or political parties that instead we should establish permanent support for freedom. He closed by assigning a bit of homework, asking “How can we make liberty cool?” Carl Segvich , the 11th Ward Republican Committeeman also gave an extemporaneous report on the situation in the Bridgeport neighborhood. Bruno Behrend, the WKRS radio host Monday and Friday 10:00 AM to 11:45 AM 1220 AM or anywhere at www.WKRS.com gave a stand-up on the Constitutional Convention question which will appear on the November ballot. He’s for it and has boasted he will appear at any group’s meeting to explain why. Keep that in mind when you need a dynamic speaker. The question and answer session distinguished between a “quick take” version of condemnation and the legitimate police powers of government when a property threatens the health and safety of a neighborhood. One of our first time attendees gave a report on the Lawndale situation and how it was going badly from the resident’s point of view. One other development—and potentially the most important—is the growing realization that there are many issues that are not “left” or “right” but more about us versus city hall, liberally defined. Tom Mannis - http://rogersparkbench.blogspot.com - noted that we are not very good at getting the word out about our topics and that freedom lovers should depend on each other and take advantage of the new media networks that have developed over the last several years. So, we’ll send this to Tom and keep him up to speed on the Town Hall Conservative schedule. We’ll convene again on April 8 for another sparkler. Related links: Save Lincoln Square www.savelincolnsquare.com The Castle Coalition – a project of the Institute for Justice – join email list for updates http://www.castlecoalition.org/ Ben Javorsky’s TIF archive at The Chicago Reader http://www.chicagoreader.com/tifarchive/ Alderman Schulter protests mischaracterizations in Lincoln Square eminent domain case Inside: January 23-29, 2008 http://www.insideonline.com/site/epage/58554_162.htm Council OKs acquisition of private property - News-Star: January 16, 2008 http://www.pioneerlocal.com/newsstar/news/741706,sn-eminent-011608-s1.article Council backs off Lincoln Square seizures - Chi-Town Daily News: January 3, 2008 http://www.chitowndailynews.org/Chicago+news/2008/1/3/Council_backs_off_Lincoln_Square_seizures Breaking news in Lincoln Square - - Alderman Schulter pulls eminent domain ordinance from City Council agenda - Sun-Times Neighborhoods with Mark Konkol: December 10, 2007 http://blogs.suntimes.com/neighborhoods/2007/12/breaking_news_in_lincoln_squar.html Chicago’s Lincoln Square faces eminent domain threat -Illinoize blog: December 4, 2007 http://capitalfax.blogspot.com/2007/12/chicagos-lincoln-square-faces-eminent.html Fair warning The Reader: September 14, 2007 http://www.chicagoreader.com/features/stories/theworks/070914/ Community Development Commission, The City of Chicago – with meeting schedule – if link below doesn’t work start at www.cityofchicago.org - click on City Departments at the top of the homepage, scroll down to and click on Planning and Development, under Commissions/Agendas click on Community Development Commission where there is a schedule of upcoming meetings. At last month’s meeting Ben Joravsky mentioned details of these meetings are often not announced until 24-48 hours before the meeting http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalContentItemAction.do?BV_SessionID=@@@@1801314163.1203539738@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccceadedgiggemkcefecelldffhdfgn. Other local news sources: Inside – serving Chicago ’s north side neighborhoods - look for Peter Buol http://www.insideonline.com/site/epage/1592_162.htm Medill News Service – look for John Riley http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=81085 News-Star / Chicago Journal – look for Lorraine Swanson http://chicagojournal.com/main.asp?SectionID=49&SubSectionID=142&ArticleID=3985 Liberty / Freedom related links: Free to Choose – 10-part documentary with Milton Friedman streaming online http://www.ideachannel.tv The Power of Choice: The Life and Ideas of Milton Friedman http://www.freetochoosemedia.com/production/POC/index.php The Road To Serfdom – Friedrich Hayek – Reader’s Digest version, April 1945 http://www.iea.org.uk/files/upld-publication43pdf?.pdf