Commentary
Oregon Daily Emerald
Thursday, February 24, 2005
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■ In my opinion
Eminent Domain
Matt Dery’s home is his castle. He
lives next to his parents in the Fort
Thimbull neighborhood of New
London, Conn., where his family has
lived for a century. But Dery and his
parents may be on the move, and not
because they want to.
The city of New London has invoked
its powers of eminent domain, an im
portant constitutional exception to
property rights that lets government
affiliated agencies seize property in
the interest of the public good,
given that they compensate the
owners accordingly.
Authorities have traditionally applied
the rule to private property in two
situations: to install new public works
— like schools and highways — or as a
first step to revamp and replace
“blighted” neighborhoods.
But New London has considered its
powers more broadly , and has pre
pared to kick Dery and his neighbors
off their property to make room not for
public works, but for a conference
center, hotel complex, offices and an
aquarium, all to be owned privately.
Seven families who own 15 homes
were uninterested, and the state tried to
condemn the embattled property.
The Supreme Court’s 1954 Berman v.
Parker decision found that cities can
apply eminent domain to raze
crime-ridden or decrepit areas, but city
officials have only labeled Fort
Thimbull a “depressed” neighborhood.
Eminent domain has found its way
to the land’s highest court again —
arguments in the New London case
TRAVIS WILLSE
RIVALLESS WIT
were heard Tliesday — and the case
may prove to be one of the year’s
most important. While the Court
sympathized with the plight of the
15 homeowners involved, it regrettably
hinted that precedent may not
favor them.
The gist of the city’s arguments,
which held up in the Connecticut
Supreme Court, were this: The newly
installed businesses and offices would
create jobs and cash flow for an
economically stagnant town, and that
economic benefits certainly satisfy the
public use requirement of eminent
domain, particularly after swollen tax
coffers are spent in the public’s interest.
Justice Sandra Day O’Connor asked
Wesley Horton, the lawyer representing
the city, “So if you took away a Motel 6
and replaced it with a Ritz Carlton.
More taxes. That’s OK?”
Horton agreed, and Justice Antonin
Scalia asked more generally, “So if B
pays more than A, that’s acceptable?”
Horton assented again. To dispute
his argument is more than to reject a
slippery slope: It’s to protest a
fundamental shift in the country’s
interpretation of property rights. If cities
need only to contend that taking and
selling land to private developers
would produce some economic
benefits felt by the public — as there
would almost always be — there’s only
the intervening money (and the risk of
residual unpopularity in later elections)
to prevent cities from forcefully
redistributing land as it sees fit.
Individual property rights, particularly
in low-income neighborhoods, are left
secondary to a dubious and nebulous
concept of public good.
Scalia voiced the best summary of
the problem: “What this lady (one of
the homeowners) wants is not more
money. There’s no ‘public use.’ You’re
just giving one individual’s private
property to another private individual.”
The case has drawn attention
outside Connecticut, too: The city of
Riviera Beach, Fla., is likewise planning
a $1 billion redevelopment project,
but would first need to condemn
1,700 homes and apartments. While
the city insists it would only apply the
powers of eminent domain as a last
resort, it is worrisome that it would
apply them at all to livable neighbor
hoods against inhabitants’ will.
Eminent domain is one of the
most important tools of land (re) devel
opment, particularly in cities, but as
such a potent tool — and as a potential
threat to the spirit of property rights —■
city governments ought to be
more careful than New London when
applying it.
traviswillse@ dailyemerald. com
■ Guest commentary
'Vagina Monologues' shows strength
I wonder if columnist Gabe Bradley
has ever seen “The Vagina Mono
logues.” I wonder if he has sat next to
any of the hundreds of audience mem
bers who felt uplifted by the perform
ance, who cried at the sad stories and
laughed at the funny ones, who felt like
maybe their stories were worth telling
too. Those were the women and men I
saw during the performance.
The women in this year’s produc
tion were teachers, full-time mothers,
traditional students, nontraditional
students, students of color, queer
students, actors, activists and the list
could go on and on. Most importantly,
the women in this year’s show
embodied the ideals of V-Day, an
international movement to end
violence against women that raises
millions of dollars every year for the
cause. Proceeds from this year’s
V-Day play meant for
more than entertainment
The Women’s Center “insists”
on producing “The Vagina Mono
logues” each year because it is
participating in the V-Day campaign,
an international effort to end
violence against women and girls.
A benefit production of “The
Vagina Monologues,” performed by
volunteer activists, is but one tool
the V-Day organization uses in
its mission to end the violence.
The horse is not yet dead, though
many women are, and many
more continue to be abused, raped,
brutalized, mutilated and murdered.
show will go to help organizations
here in Eugene.
Bradley’s synopsis of the show in his
column (‘“Vagina Monologues’
misspeaks,” ODE, Feb. 15) — “The first
half is everybody giggling about the
fact that an adult just said ‘pussy’ out
loud while the second half of the play
is everybody crying and feeling miser
able about violence against women” —
makes me think he wasn’t there to see
it. None of the actors cried in the
second half. They were talking about
real violence that happened to real
women — that still happens to real
women. The monologues are real
stories. If they make the audience cry,
then maybe they deserve to be grieved.
Yes, the mayor, the dean of students
and the ASUO vice president were all
in the production. But do you know
how amazing it is that these positions
INBOX
It is for them that the Women’s
Center insists on producing this play
year after year.
Dana J. Gorman
Eugene
Bradley's eyes shut for
campus theater at its finest
The recent production of “The
Vagina Monologues,” sponsored by
the Women’s Center, was perhaps
the best community theater
experience I have had in Eugene.
What made the evening especially
memorable were the astonishing,
heartfelt, riveting performances
by my students, neighbors and
are held by women? Do you realize
what an honor it is for the mayor to
participate in an amateur theatrical
production? These women are working
to end violence, working toward
equality with real fervor. What’s so
wrong in celebrating that? That’s what
“The Vagina Monologues” is: a
celebration. In the end, it doesn’t have
anything to do with giggling about
saying “pussy.” It’s about showing how
strong and beautiful women can be. It’s
about sharing stories and helping each
other to find solutions.
As a husband, I would have thought
Bradley would be more ready to
celebrate women. And as far as
the vagina fan club, I don’t want him
anywhere near it. I am calling for
his resignation.
Sarah Wells is a student senator
colleagues. I was dazzled and
moved by the utterly professional
quality of every woman’s interpreta
tion: participatory theater at
its finest. Felicia Perez and
the Women’s Center are to be
commended for making this year’s
Monologues one of the most
moving, inspiring, affirming and
expertly presented shows to appear
on this campus.
I can only guess that columnist
Gabe Bradley had his eyes — at
the very least — closed during
the performance.
Louise M. Bishop
Assistant professor
■ Editorial
DPS policy
discourages
safety and
inspires fear
Why is the Department of Public Safety
acting like it cares less about the safety of the
public than it does about issuing citations?
As reported Wednesday, “DPS automatically
issues a municipal citation when responding to
calls where a student potentially has alcohol
poisoning if that student is under 21 years old
and is sick enough to need transportation to a
hospital, DPS Interim Director Tom Hicks said
at a Public Safety Advisory Group meeting
Tbesday” (“Two University alcohol policies
conflict,” ODE, Feb. 23).
The Office of Student Life, in an effort to
encourage students to seek help, contradicts
the DPS policy and promises students there will
be no consequences for reporting potential
alcohol poisoning.
DPS Cpl. Michael Eppli expressed concern
that failing to penalize really drunk students
would encourage other students to drink more
in order to avoid citation. But it is ridiculous to
think that somebody would potentially poison
themselves simply to avoid a fine. What could
happen is that students who need to seek
medical help will not do so in order to avoid an
automatic citation. This kind of chilling effect
is very real and potentially deadly.
Each year 1,400 students nationwide die from
alcohol related causes , according to an Emerald
report (“After the party,” ODE, Nov. 24). Usually
students do not realize their peers are suffering
from alcohol poisoning and elect to let them
sleep it off. To combat this, students should be
encouraged to overreact when they suspect
alcohol poisoning. The DPS policy, on the other
hand, encourages students to do nothing and
hope that everything will turn out okay.
Working with students to deal with their drink
ing problems proactively and anonymously
would be a much more effective response
following alcohol-related incidents. However,
DPS seems to view students as enemies that
deserve to be punished at all costs.
Don’t get us wrong. Alcohol abuse is a
serious problem, not simply for the individual but
for the community as a whole. Drunk
driving, rape and alcohol-fueled riots are just a
few of the problems DPS deals with because of
student binge drinking. But issuing citations for
those with alcohol poisoning is not a solution.
Underage students should be free to seek
medical help for any reason without fear of
DPS’s reprisal. If not, the University might be
dealing with one or two cases of alcohol
poisoning in the residence halls each week; the
University might be dealing with one or two
cases of alcohol related deaths.
That’s a hell of tradeoff for handing out a few
more citations.
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