Small businesses accuse Missouri city of forcing them out with baseless blight label to score lucrative deal
Small businesses file lawsuit against St. Louis suburb in eminent domain case
By Megan Myers, Hannah Ray Lambert Fox News
Published June 5, 2024 5:00am EDT
*** begin quote ***
Three small businesses are suing a St. Louis suburb, accusing the local government of sneakily steamrolling them to make a hefty profit through a deal that could financially cripple longtime mom-and-pop shops.
“All the politicians say every day on the news how great we are, but when we’re in their way, we’re not so great,” Feather-Craft Fly Fishing President Bob Story said about small businesses. “You can be a part of a community for 30-plus years and be treated like you’re worthless.”
The city of Brentwood, Missouri, is threatening to use eminent domain to force out businesses on a major road for a multi-million dollar redevelopment plan. A few longtime business owners accused the city of making a groundless claim that the area has been “blighted” to justify the lucrative project on Manchester Road, leading them to file their lawsuit.
*** and ***
Property owners could either sell willingly or be forced out by eminent domain.
In 2005, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in favor of cities using eminent domain to seize property for economic development in the Kelo vs. New London case. Certain states, including Missouri, have since taken steps to protect property owners, but loopholes have allowed cities to take advantage of vulnerable areas like Manchester Road, the business owners said.
In Missouri, state law allows the government to seize private property that has been deemed blighted, broadly defined as having “insanitary or unsafe conditions, deterioration of site improvements” or other factors that present “economic or social liability.”
*** end quote ***
In Kelo, a neighborhood was seized and flattened for a Pfizer Headquarters that was never built.
Wonder whose nests got feathered by that “deal”? Wasn’t the home owners.
Sounds like the same type of “deal” here.
Argh!
—30—
Reinke Faces Life 