Kelo: Where it all began

Posted by Marc Hodak on June 24, 2008 under Unintended consequences | Comments are off for this article

In the head of a utopian.

We said to ourselves … what if we can create a city where there is no persistent underclass and where the children of the poor [are] achieving at a level that approximates the level of middle-income families? … [T]hat’s the mentality we have here — that we want to say enough is enough,” she told the Hartford Courant in 2001.

“She” is Claire Gaudiani, one of those elitist, liberal, central planners who told everyone that she wanted to turn depressed New London into a “hip little town.” All she needed was Suzette Kelo’s home to make the dream happen.

The Supreme Court said it was OK, as long as the city had a plan, even a dubious plan without any accountability to the taxpayers.

Like most utopian plans, this one is on it’s way to failure. The distressed taxpayers, far from benefiting from their leaders’ vision, have been left $78 million poorer.