Kelo Calamity Continues; Media Remains AWOL

Photo of Tom Blumer.
By Tom Blumer (Bio | Archive)
March 19, 2008 - 12:28 ET
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You really can't make this stuff up, as they say.

This is from the New London Day last Friday (link probably requires registration, and would require a paid subscription after this coming Friday; HT Liberty Conspiracy):

Fort Trumbull Developer Asks FHA To Back $11.5M Loan

Faced with a tight lending climate, the Corcoran Jennison company has asked the Federal Housing Authority to back an $11.5 million loan to fund the long-delayed construction of housing on the Fort Trumbull peninsula.

Corcoran Jennison applied for the mortgage insurance last Friday, said Kristine Foye, spokeswoman for the New England Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The request was filed three months before a crucial May 29 deadline for the Boston-based developer to secure financing and sign a construction contract for an 80-unit complex of rental apartments and townhouses.

..... While a federal commitment could bring more favorable terms for Corcoran Jennison, the company is also seeking conventional financing from major lenders, Carberry said Thursday.

..... According to the developer's HUD application, “The development plan is for an upscale rental property that will be positioned to compete at the top of the market,” Foye said.

So, if the project ever gets going, the properties that were the subject of the infamous Kelo decision -- properties that contained middle-class owner-occupied and rental homes -- will be replaced by palatial digs for the well-to-do, insured in case the project fails by Uncle Sam.

The Day seems bound and determined to keep the word Kelo out of its coverage, while the rest of Old Media seems bound and determined to totally ignore the ongoing fiasco.

I have said before that what ultimately happens with the properties that were the subject of the Kelo ruling will be instructive. So far, it has been just that, showing that the government is generally not capable of handling property development. This is why the private sector should be doing these kinds of things, with willing sellers and buyers.

A shorter version of this entry is part of this BizzyBlog post.

—Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters


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How can they keep the word

March 19, 2008 - 12:44 ET by Newsbusterbrown

How can they keep the word Kelo out of this article? It's like talking about the beginnings of our country without mentioning the American Revolution.

I think Tom has it exactly right, and here's why

March 19, 2008 - 14:11 ET by sarcasmo

I think the motivation for keeping the K-word out of the biased local paper's coverage is simple. Let's call it "future search avoidance" bias. Something like Lexis/Nexis or Westlaw, if only searching the dishonest journalist's article but probably not the more-honest reader comments -- may NOT find this fiscal disaster. Apparently, that chance alone is worth-it in this case.

I can think of no other reason explaining both this and the fact that we see NOTHING in the MSM (especially TV -- this is a disaster that must be kept "read only" for the control-freak bias to work!) about the scandal that is now Kelo, but I'm open to suggestions.
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

That's a great point...

March 19, 2008 - 17:57 ET by Mean Gene Dr. Love

That's a great point to consider, sarc. It could also be the same reason the political leanings and affiliations of the lefties are all to often omitted from articles about their scandals.

You may be on to something.

"An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life." --Robert A. Heinlein, "Beyond This Horizon", 1942

Thanks, Tom Blumner

March 19, 2008 - 12:48 ET by sarcasmo

For reporting on this scandal. I'm not sure whether it's sad or funny that the local distorter was biased-enough not to call a Kelo "a Kelo."

I regret to say that my friend Judge Kozinski disagrees, but I'm still hoping to change his mind someday. One thing's for sure, under a McCain Presidency, there's even less 'danger' of a Justice Kozinski than there's been under either Bush, if that's possible...
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

Thanks for Kelo update

March 19, 2008 - 13:20 ET by LionKing

Again, IMHO, the Kelo decision was one of the worst decisions ever.

I have no problem with government obtaining land for public use like for roads or schools. I have a problem with the government stealing land for a private business to use.

The Texas Motor Speedway is a similar situation for me. The State of Texas condemned a large ranch that had been in the family for over a hundred years. They did not want to sell. The government basically stole the land so private businessmen could build the Texas Motor Speedway. I know that there are similar stories like this all over the US and it is WRONG.

[ btw, I have personally vowed to never set foot inside the Texas Motor Speedway...so far, so good. ]

If conservatives are RIGHT, then liberals must be WRONG.

First of all, thank you Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

March 19, 2008 - 13:34 ET by R D Helm

And thanks also to Bill Clinton, as well as to the utterly gutless republicans who put up no measurable resistance to the Ginsburg appointment whatsoever.

Theme for Election '08: I want my mommy!

Can one of our lefties comment

March 19, 2008 - 13:32 ET by sarcasmo

On this analogy? "Trying to cover the Kelo case without ever mentioning the words 'Kelo v. New London' would be about as dishonest as trying to cover Roe without ever mentioning the words 'Roe v. Wade.'"
JMR

A corruption-story the TV media will-not cover.

Birds of a feather?

March 19, 2008 - 20:05 ET by pocomoco

Tom,

It was just brought to light that the bailout of Bear Sterns will not be paid for by the buyout company but by the US Treasury, i.e. the tax payers, which has been approved by the Secretary Of The Treasury who, coincidently, was the CEO of another financial institution.

Something is rotten at Treasury.

You may want to check the story out.

just following precedent - stari decisis

March 20, 2008 - 12:40 ET by wizardjr

Here in the Twin Cities (it's not bad enough to have one stupid government in a metro, we have two competing for the trophy) a local government along I-494 decided to make a gift to the Best Buy company. They stole the land right out from under a car dealer and sold (gave) it to Best Buy to build a corporate campus.

The truly brilliant part of this is that they sited this campus with 5,000 employees on land that previously held a total of a couple hundred people and also happens to be smack dab in the middle of the southern east-west corridor for tens of thousands of commuters. Guess what happened to rush hour? And the public benefit - none. They've peed away the additional tax revenue, so we won't get more traffic lanes or anything else of use from this rip off.