Stealing the Future: More Eminent Domain for Private Gain in Philadelphia
“Philadelphia officials used eminent domain to seize 35 properties for a private development project in Kensington, a neighborhood the city first declared blighted in 1968. The project, affordable housing and retail space, depends on public subsidies: tax credits and a $1.8 million grant.
As in Point Breeze, another neighborhood where the city is using eminent domain, the city already owned a sizeable chunk of the project footprint—and let it sit vacant and dilapidated for years.
In 2006, Pennsylvania reformed its eminent domain laws to strengthen protections for property owners. The new rules ban taking property “in order to use it for private enterprise” but don’t take effect in Philadelphia until later this year.”
Ross, John K. Reason Blog 16 January 2013.