<p>“Malls bring jobs to the area. Malls generate tax revenues. Malls bring conveniences to people. Malls bring competition that allows people to get things cheaper. Malls can rejuvenate a blighted area.”</p>
<p>columbia will do all this, and more, plus the community service, and green area. And who said eminent domain is categorically wrong for a mall, if a mall can rejuvenate an area, of course weigh the pros and cons and force people to leave if it must be done.</p>
<p>“Do you believe in natural rights? Or do you believe that the government has a duty to interfere with a private transaction when it deems such interference to be efficient to society as whole?”</p>
<p>I don’t believe in infallible rights, and especially not the absolute and unending right to hold on to property when there is a serious public benefit at stake. there has to be an overwhelming benefit to society relative to the private cost for the gov to step in. And this too cannot be evaluated in black and white, it requires a spectrum of though, and an ability to quantify the public good relative to the private cost, there isn’t an answer of absolute truth to when eminent domain is acceptable.</p>
<p>“The existence of eminent domain as an option – whether or not Columbia denies that it’s thinking about using it – affects the negotiation dynamics.”</p>
<p>absolutely it does, hopefully it’ll the send the message to the land owner that he cannot demand a ridculous amount for the land. It’s an enforcement mechanism, otherwise columbia is hostage to his demands however ridiculous they might be.</p>