Robert Booker: Eminent domain hurt black families
“Unlike the Willow Street project and others that devastated the black community, “Yale Avenue was in no sense a slum clearance,” said Dennis. “Most residences were homeowners quite capable of finding other homes to purchase, and they eschewed help from the relocation workers supplied by the Knoxville Housing Authority.”
That attitude would have been the same in the Willow Street, Mountain View and Morningside projects if property owners had been offered replacement value instead of fair market value. The Willow project uprooted 508 black families and 157 white families. It was estimated that 427 black families would to into public housing and 116 white families would seek public housing. I am delighted the landowners of Jefferson County will be left alone.”
Booker, Robert. Knoxville News 14 May 2013.