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EDITORIAL
A misuse of eminent domain
(Published May 31, 2004)

The District's political leaders are being bought.

There can be no other logical explanation for the chicanery and downright foolishness that accompanies many of the official actions taken by Mayor Anthony A. Williams and the D.C. City Council.

The council’s unanimous support for a Williams administration proposal to use eminent domain at Skyland Shopping Center in Southeast Washington is but the latest example of what appears to be political payback or an overly cozy business-political relationship masquerading as public service.

"Eminent domain" is a legal tool that allows government to take private property for public use, usually with "just compensation" – determined by the government – paid to the owner.

The operative term here is "public use." In this case, the city’s politicians are defining "public use" as a scheme that forces more than two dozen businesses out of business in the name of handing over the property they occupy to other businesses.

The location – a major intersection where Alabama Avenue SE meets Naylor and Good Hope roads, on the edge of tony Hillcrest – apparently has become too attractive to the powerful development community for the government to allow the existing businesses to remain.

What the government’s chosen development team wants to put there is all based on speculation, at this point. The already-thriving commercial area now includes an AutoZone, CVS, Murry’s Steaks, Discount Mart, a U.S. Post Office, small sports and clothing shops, fast-food restaurants, two huge laundromats, professional services and other small businesses, as well as a D.C. government employment office. Neighborhood residents can be certain that, at least in the short term, they would see many of their convenient services replaced for several years with a 16-acre, fenced vacant lot.

The quasi-public National Capital Revitalization Corp. (NCRC), headed by Williams re-election campaign chairman Theodore Carter, has devised this plan, dangling the hope of attracting such big-box retailers as Target or Wal-Mart and a supermarket to the site. Two years ago, the NCRC selected a development team, headed by Gary D. Rappaport and his McLean, Va.-based Rappaport Cos. Rappaport is past chairman and a trustee of the International Council of Shopping Centers, the group that sponsors an annual confab in Las Vegas to which the mayor and a city entourage travel each year.

NCRC officials are promoting this project "in response to the strong demand for retail east of the river." Many of the D.C. residents promoting this project are longtime political supporters of the mayor, including individuals who helped create the "Draft Tony Williams" effort in 1998 that launched the mayor’s initial campaign.

Never mind that the neighborhood which Skyland serves already has one of the few large and healthy retail districts located east of the Anacostia River. Directly across the street from Skyland sits Good Hope Marketplace, another successful shopping center – including a Safeway supermarket, two banks and numerous national or regional retail stores. It was built about 10 years ago with government support.

A short distance south of Skyland, along Alabama Avenue, is the fenced and overgrown 25-acre former site of Camp Simms – already city-owned and long awaiting retail development.

D.C. officials are attempting to misuse eminent domain at Skyland Shopping Center.

There are more constructive ways that government could use public resources to improve Skyland. Realigning the traffic pattern and enhancing the streetscape, along with providing incentives to current property owners for making façade improvements, would make Skyland more attractive. The Georgetown Project’s success at upgrading that neighborhood's infrastructure and streetscape shows that officials know how to make such an extensive improvement project happen -- to the benefit of existing business owners and residents alike.

Copyright 2004, The Common Denominator