Riviera Beach FL eminent domain

[JNA]

Front page story in the Louisville Courier-Journal, Sat. Dec. 10 (print)
"Floridians grapple with land seizure"

wire service article from the LA Times:
"An Eminent Domain High Tide"
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...la-home-nation

Highlights:

In what has been called the largest eminent-domain case in the nation, the mayor and other elected leaders want to move about 6,000 residents, tear down their homes and use the emptied 400-acre site to build a waterfront yachting and residential complex for the well-to-do.

"This is a reverse Robin Hood," said state Rep. Ronald L. Greenstein, meaning the poor in Riviera Beach would be robbed to benefit the rich. Greenstein, a Coconut Creek Democrat, serves on a state legislative committee making recommendations on how to strengthen safeguards on private property.

"What distinguishes Riviera Beach is the sheer scope of the project, and the number of people it displaces."

Another case to watch and follow as it plays out.

[hilldweller]

No where else in America is the divide between the have's and the have-not's in this country so apparent than in Palm Beach County. The poverty in some areas is so extreme its like a third world country. At the same time there have been pockets of gentrification sprouting up everywhere, and it has happened so suddenly. I will say that if this was a white neighborhood there would be outrage and a lot more sympathetic media coverage.

[jmello]

Over 20% of the town's population would be "renewed;" utterly disgusting! Hope the other 80% will re-elect the current administration.

[Hceux]

No where else in America is the divide between the have's and the have-not's in this country so apparent than in Palm Beach County. The poverty in some areas is so extreme its like a third world country. At the same time there have been pockets of gentrification sprouting up everywhere, and it has happened so suddenly. I will say that if this was a white neighborhood there would be outrage and a lot more sympathetic media coverage.

Yes, I second hilldweller's observation of the divide. When I first saw the thread's title, I immediately wondered if it was somehow related to the extreme divide between the have's and the have-not's that I saw as a passenger in Dad's van, when he was driving on Hwy 1 or 1A from Grandpa's winter home up in Palm Beach Gardens to West Palm Beach to go some art museum (Flagler's?). I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw how much of a sudden change it was from the rather ritzy West Palm Beach landscape in West Palm Beach and its suburbs compare to that of Riveria Beach.