Last June, I posted about a Southern California county’s all-out war on the little guy — and the little guy’s property rights.
At the time, nobody was really sure why thuggish “code enforcement” teams were rampaging across the Antelope Valley, evicting homeowners and demanding that people tear down their homes.
But we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that it turns out to be yet another post-Kelo landgrab by a government on behalf of government cronies. (H/T to S for the update.)
This time it’s the so-called green energy industry. And how can you blame them? After they get billions in subsidies from the fedgov and customized regulations from the state, they naturally assume it’s their right to have local governments steal the land for them.
In the wake of Kelo, 40 states changed their “takings” laws to be more favorable to private property owners. That was supposed to halt “public” land grabs for private use. But governments, being the gangster mobs they are, simply came up with an even more profitable form of robbery.
Instead of paying homeowners before giving their homes to crony businesses, cities and counties now declare the homes to be so substandard, so hazardous, and in violation of so many bureaucratic regulations that they have to be torn down. At the owners’ expense. The people are kicked out and all that’s left is the value of the empty lot.
Such a racket, eh? Mafia dons must be green with envy.
In sending the new link, S (who knows about as much as anybody about the energy industry) wrote:
[T]his episode illustrates the personal savagery and barbarism that energy policy at gunpoint requires. Desert rats were the victims this time, but make no mistake, these thugs will rob and kill anyone who gets in their way.
The “Nuisance Abatement Teams” almost certainly never knew what master they served. That’s how our society works. To quote Father Zebelka, these grotesque acts of depravity “are carried out by a long chain of individuals, each doing his or her job meticulously while simultaneously refusing to look at the end results of his or her work.”
Subsidies to solar and wind power are incredibly destructive on both large impersonal scales and to selected individuals. No intelligent person working within these “industries” dares contemplate the totality of the system. The immorality would drive them insane in short order. Instead, they do their little part, and avert their eyes as people’s homes and lives are destroyed.
Remember Carl Drega – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Drega
Amen. Make it cost the bastards.
I remember reading about that last year, and understanding that the seemingly bizarre actions were anchored in “Follow the Money.” I figured it was bing pushed as a grab for water rights and to push non-urban water users off the land. Guess I was close. One thing the “Green” energy folks never want to mention is the horrific negative impact on the environment and people living in that environment that “Green” energy causes. The Big Oil companies cause less long term damage to the environment and actually pay the landowners leases and royalties for the wells on private property.
The current version of chrony-capitalism must go.
Follow The Money will get you the answer every time, though the trail not be clear. Most of those “desert rats” nearest neighbors were miles away…not likely to complain of any nuisance. Everyone is a potential “rat” of some type if your property has value to Those In Charge(insert copyright symbol here).
Since the Government owns our lands ( we just “rent” it thru property taxes), it’s not surprising they are taking away the homes of people for just the few so that they can line their pockets with more money
I agree, Follow the Money and you’ll see why.
On another note, just found an article where a Supreme Court Judge mentioned the T word.
http://breakthematrix.com/interviews/judge-napolitano-president-dangerously-close-totalitarianism/
It’s very well done, too.
First they approach you with a minor code violation, and force you to fix it out of pocket. They escalate one code violation at a time, each more expensive, until they reach the one you cannot do because you are now out of money.
If they had started with that one, by the way, you would have used your money to hire a lawyer.
Then, when they’ve reached your financial limit, they do it themselves and send you a bill. Then, when you don’t pay the bill, they put a lein against your house.
So, unlike Eminent Domain, where you had the potential to fight and get the value of your property, in this case you get nothing and are driven to destitution.
I live here, I see it. It is quite a nasty arrangement that is actually worse than the problem it replaced.
The small city that I live in is trying to do the same tactic.The Code Enforcement Officer would actually walk down the street looking for violations or even violate laws to find violations. I was forced to sell my truck because it didn’t have a battery in it, despite the fact the tags were still current.
Many of the residents are being “forced” to move outside of the city limits and some are becoming homeless, which the local government denies the homeless even exists