Council creating imagined ‘problems’; what is racism?
“I have lived in this city for 53 years. In that time, I have been active in many facets of this city, including serving six years on the City Council, several years on the Urban Renewal Board and much more. I can assure you that this city has never or rarely used eminent domain as a way to acquire land. In fact, it has been quite the opposite.
While I was on City Council, we acquired land for several major projects including water diversion projects and never utilized eminent domain to acquire it. There were significant outlying pieces of land in the backdrop of Garden of the Gods that owners were not willing to sell. We could have used that right to acquire it, but we did not. They were later acquired as owners moved and decided to sell. These are only two of many instances when eminent domain was not utilized.”
The Gazette 11 May 2014.