Government Theft: High-Speed Rail Authority has 30 eminent-domain cases pending … and it’s just getting started

Obama said, “if you like your doctor, you can keep him”. As we now know, that was a lie. The Constitution says we have the right to private property. According to Dan Richard, Chair of the High Speed Rail Authority, that is ancient history and we, the government own your property. To the choo choo train people private property is merely property held by private people until government wants it. Using bullying tactics, threats of lawsuits, dozens of small businesses were forced into a fire sale—with government telling the owners they were taking over their property and would tell the private owner how much government will pay for the theft.

Not enough people were scared, so the authoritarians running the choo choo train have gone to court, to get a court to declare the end of private property rights. You should know your STATE taxes are paying for the attorneys to steal property. In the last two State budget a total of $55 million was given to the train folks, mostly to buy and steal private property. Shame on us for allowing this.

High-Speed Rail Authority has 30 eminent-domain cases pending … and it’s just getting started

The California High-Speed Rail Authority needs about 1,100 parcels just for the first segment. So far, it’s acquired just 106.

Allen Young, Sacramento Business Journal, 11/7/14 

The first trip on California’s first high-speed rail network is years away, at best. One reason: Assembling all the property the system will need is an arduous task.

The California High-Speed Rail Authority needs approximately 1,100 parcels for its first construction segment, 130 miles from Madera to Bakersfield. The state began making offers on properties in 2012 that were standing in the way of future tracks and infrastructure.

So far, the state has sought ownership of 822 parcels, and acquired just 106.

Not all of the negotiations have gone smoothly. The state has received permission to move forward with eminent domain proceedings for 36 parcels so far. Eminent domain is a legal process through which public agencies can acquire property at fair market value without the owner’s consent for a project in the public interest.

Owners of six of those parcels have since settled with the state. Of the 30 that remain, 10 are now pending in courthouses in Fresno and Madera counties. None have gone to trial yet.

The High-Speed Rail Authority has budgeted $776 million for property acquisition along this initial stretch of track.

“We feel that we are on track to acquire properties and complete construction of this section of the system,” Lisa Marie Alley, a spokeswoman for the authority, wrote in an email.

The eminent domain cases pending in Central Valley courts each focus on the disagreement over a fair-market value for the property — not whether high-speed rail qualifies as in the “public interest,” said Charles Brewer, a Fresno attorney representing a half dozen Central Valley property owners in the cases.

But attorneys representing landowners are closely watching pending lawsuits that allege the California High-Speed Rail Authority violated Proposition 1A, which funded high-speed rail in 2008. If the opposition prevails in that case, said Brewer, the affected landowners could challenge the eminent domain proceeding on a new set of grounds.

“The residual effects could extend to a point where it might affect the crucial, foundational issue of public use,” he said.