Barstow Redevelopment Agency Contemplates Reinstatement of Eminent Domain Powers
According to the November 13, 2009, Desert Dispatch article "City seeks to reinstate eminent domain powers," the Barstow city council will decide next month whether the Barstow Redevelopment Agency's power of eminent domain should be reinstated after expiring last year. The Redevelopment Agency believes the use of eminent domain may be necessary to remove blight in the area along East Main Street bordering the Marine Corps Logistics Base.
The article reports that the Redevelopment Agency's chair, Tim Silva, believes eminent domain is a valuable tool, although he'd hate to see it used frequently by the government. Silva comments:
There’s many things we can and can’t do, but we’ve got to keep those laws there so they can be used. I would never approve eminent domain, which isn’t going to be (used for) the public benefit.
Reinstating the Redevelopment Agency's eminent domain power may simply be form over substance, as the Agency has never resorted to such use since it was established in 1973.
