Cincinnati News

Dr. Bill Peirce, Libertarian candidate for Governor has launched the "Save Our Homes" Committee to promote an Ohio Constitutional amendment protecting homeowners from eminent domain abuse.

In the recent US Supreme Court decision, Kelo v. New London, the justices decided that homes can be taken by the government and given to private developers if they expect to earn higher property taxes.

Here in Ohio, residents of Norwood have been forced from their homes to build a shopping center. The residents are in Columbus Wednesday for oral arguments at the Supreme Court of Ohio. In Ohio, "blight" has been used as a pretext for taking homes in neighborhoods planned for commercial development."We're here today to stand with the residents of Norwood who have been forced from their homes by their city to make room for a shopping mall," declares Peirce. "We can not allow this to continue. That is why we are forming the Save Our Homes Committee, to protect all Ohioans from eminent domain abuse. Issues arising from the Kelo decision and "bogus blight" will be addressed in this new amendment."

"The proposed amendment would limit eminent domain to its original purpose," notes Libertarian State Chair Jason Hallmark. "Highways and utilities are truly public purposes, shopping malls and new residential development is not."

Save Our Homes will obtain approval from the Attorney General to circulate the amendment petition in the coming weeks and then begin to gather signatures to place the amendment on the 2006 ballot.

"The citizens from Ohio need this protection and they will support it", states Robert Butler, the new director of Save Our Homes. "But we expect a lot of resistance from the local government officials and private developers who want to continue business as usual."

"There will be scare tactics from government officials," agrees Hallmark.

"But the voting public will see through it."
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Contact: Robert Butler
Peirce For Ohio
30628 Detroit Rd. #174
Westlake, OH 44145
(614) 547-0290

Posted by JN on Monday, October 03, 2005 at 6:50 PM | Permalink