Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz did his best to preserve his Kelo powers, the ability of government to take property from private citizens and transfer the ownership to wealthier private citizens. Vikki Kratz tells all in the Isthmus and provides links to evidence.
The story starts last November when Mortenson Investment Group decides to build a project, then asks the City of Madison to condemn the property so they can keep acquisition costs in line with their planned budget. The developers understand they have a willing ally in the Cieslewicz Administration which is absolutely committed to the dangerous belief that Urban Planning is more important that Urban Regulation.
Businesses Upset With Plans To Condemn: Stuart Levitan, chairman of the Community Development Authority said, "If the parties do not reach a voluntary resolution then we will likely condemn the buildings and the issue will probably be settled in courts."When Governor Doyle yields to bipartisan pressure and signs Wisconsin Act 233 preventing simple seizure for economic gain, the reaction of the administration comes tinged with enough emotion to show their contempt for limits on municipal power.
"This is an example of why this is bad legislation," says CDA chair Stuart Levitan, noting that Mortenson's development would bring in hundreds of new jobs and expand the city's tax base. "This project enjoys unanimous neighborhood support."That statement so nicely illustrates the difference between socialism and representative democracy. In socialist thought, what is good for the group is more important than what is good for the individual. In the classical liberalism of our American heritage is the understanding that the rights of the individual form the basis of good society. Socialists like Cieslewicz consistently demonstrate their desire for the power to define and impose good ideas upon the public, and achieving results does precede a lot quicker when subjects don’t have the right to say “no”.
