{"id":21,"date":"2013-09-21T19:53:20","date_gmt":"2013-09-22T05:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/?p=21"},"modified":"2018-07-08T21:26:55","modified_gmt":"2018-07-09T07:26:55","slug":"honolulu-transit-oriented-development-is-an-assault-of-private-property-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/?p=21","title":{"rendered":"Choon James: Honolulu Transit Oriented Development (TOD) an Assault on Private Property Rights."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"EMNeighboodTOD\"<\/p>\n

Rail’s Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) An Assault on Private Property<\/strong> Rights<\/strong>
\nBy Choon James 11\/03\/2012\u00a0 Published in Civil Beat.<\/p>\n

How would you react if a stranger enters your home; goes into your bedroom and sleeps in your bed \u2014 without your permission?<\/p>\n

The natural reaction would be one of disbelief and outright objection, right?
\nWe would consider this intrusion an invasion of our privacy and space. We would dial 911 to get the intruder off our property.<\/p>\n

Yet, we see no similar reactions towards the Honolulu city’s proposed Transit-oriented developments (TOD); we detect no deference to or respect for private property rights. The city’s planners and facilitators have successfully drowned this constitutional right in their public presentations.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the amount of giddy excitement and coveting of private properties (that the government does not own) for this Honolulu Rail’s Transit-oriented development (TOD) is very alarming. http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sLSzpi0ytSY<\/p>\n

We live in a Democracy; we are not China or Russia.<\/p>\n

Private property rights is an integral part of free enterprise. We must not allow crony capitalism to stomp private property owners. Government and its cronies must not be allowed to plan as they unilaterally please. http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=SmM4ZBoppNQ<\/p>\n

At each of the proposed 21 rail stations, the city wants TODs \u201cwithin half a mile radius\u201d vicinity. The proposed rail stations are located at every mile; this means the whole land area along the entire 21-mile rail corridor is up for grabs. \u201cHalf a mile radius\u201d sounds so harmless!<\/p>\n

To covet and seize an additional 20 square miles area along this rail corridor on our small island pose a huge economical, social and cultural impact!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not as if private owners can easily relocate down the road. Family inheritances, investments, and businesses built with sweat, equity, and sacrifices will be placed under the mercy of absolute powers of eminent domain. Kama’aina owners and businesses will be pushed out to pave the way for national and international investors. http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=i67hIaAe6hs<\/p>\n

Have we forgotten about Kelo vs. New London, the most despised eminent domain case in recent history http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Kelo_v._City_of_New_London The Fort Trumbull community had 117 private properties. The City of New London supposedly had carefully crafted a revitalization plan to spur new jobs and increase tax revenue.
\nTo push this \u201crevitalization\u201d plan forward, New London City abused its eminent domain powers to seize private properties to transfer to its private partner. http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=4N1svadJQ40<\/p>\n

As it turned out, the city\u2019s private partner – Pfizer corporation – failed to deliver needed funds and abandoned the much-heralded project. The Pfizer corporation also left town.
\nThe city and state spent $78 Million for the acquisition and bulldozing the Fort Trumbull neighborhood. The promised 3,169 new jobs and $1.2 million a year in tax revenues evaporated.<\/p>\n

The municipal experts\u2019 Revitalization Plan, the basis for the ill Supreme Court’s June 23, 2005 decision in deference to legislators, proved to be an elusive concept and not reality.
\nIn early 2012, its newly-elected Mayor of New London extended an apology to the Fort Trumbull victims . . . what good did that do?<\/p>\n

The priceless toll on the victims could never be compensated; lives were uprooted and constitution rights subverted while the bureaucratic and political perpetrators walked away scot-free. http:\/\/caselaw.lp.findlaw.com\/scripts\/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=04-108<\/p>\n

Here in Hawaii, we observe a similar \u201crevitalization\u201d process has been set in motion. City \u201cexperts\u201d are holding \u201cCommunity Visioning\u201d meetings to discuss \u201cNeighborhood TOD Planning\u201d. http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sLSzpi0ytSY
\nThe city wants to “take advantage of rail to its optimal level” and to \u201cconcentrate population\u201d along this rail corridor.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/dev.honoluludpp.org\/Planning\/NeighborhoodTODPlans.aspx
\nThe “experts” presented beautiful artistic renderings at these meetings but we\u2019ve yet to hear the sounds of the Rail along the Honolulu High-Capacity Transit Corridor. Who will live along the noisy railroad tracks? http:\/\/youtu.be\/abzMGHe3Pc0
\n(The push to steer the low income population along the noisy rail corridor is \u201csegregation d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu\u201d and not social equity.)<\/p>\n

The dangerous potential for the city to seize 21 square miles of private properties for transfer to private investors has to be reckoned with, today. The proposed Honolulu Rail is not only ugly, noisy, and a black hole for Oahu’s taxpayers; its accompanied TOD is a direct assault on private property rights. http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=V4ezw1Hbf6Y
\nNo Oahu residents should sit idly by and condone such autocratic land-use plans for our island home. It is wrong. It\u2019s dangerous. It\u2019s unAmerican. It goes against the core tenets of our free society.<\/p>\n

City planning and developments must conform within the constitutional parameters of private property rights. This should have been a big part of the public deliberations. Any “exemption” laws to skirt this right must be rejected. Too many big decisions have been manipulated and controlled by raw crony capitalism and special interests. Private property owners continue to trampled on and pushed aside by the big boys.
\nWe must take our government back.<\/p>\n

&&&
\nAbout the author: Choon James has been a real estate broker for over 20 years. She is a member of the Ko\u2019olauloa Sustainable Communities Planning Committee and hosts \u201cCountry Talk Story\u201d, a weekly community television show on Saturdays at 5:00 pm on Channel 55.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Rail’s Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) An Assault on Private Property Rights By Choon James 11\/03\/2012\u00a0 Published in Civil Beat. How would you react if a stranger enters your home; goes into your bedroom and sleeps in your bed \u2014 without your permission? The natural reaction would be one of disbelief and outright objection, right? We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[29,25,31,14,26,7,30],"class_list":["post-21","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ala-moana","tag-eminent-domain","tag-hawaii-community-development-authority","tag-honolulu-chinatown","tag-honolulu-hale","tag-honolulu-rapid-rail","tag-kakaako"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1137,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21\/revisions\/1137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/countrytalkstory.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}