Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:30:27 -0500
From: Dr John R Dykers
Subject: Sam Cherry and property rights and WWP and Chatham County Commissioners
There are two related issues. One is the legitimate public use (highways primarily) that run over private property and that is what money is for, to justly compensate the owner for losses incurred, including in some cases the need for relocation and sometimes a priceless loss such as family connection running back multiple generations.
(I would cry to my grave if a new Interstate ran over my home, but it might not be nearly so bad if I were paid enough to have a nice condo at Ponte Vedra and membership in the Beach Club and visit old friends in Jacksonville. I don’t mind the Progress Energy power line right of way as we can still graze and everybody needs electricity.)
The other issue is the illegitimate public taking so that governmental units can realize additional revenue and not adequately compensate owners for the loss not only of their property but of their homes. Eminent domain does not always pay adequately for the intangible loss of “home”, sometimes being careful with taxpayer money. (New London, Conn. And the Supreme Court about 2 years ago now is the most egregious case I know.) This gives us a hint of what we hear about in other countries undergoing “land redistribution”.
Water is the new gold. R/PxT=Q where R is available resources, P is us, T is our technology, and Q is our quality of life.
How we divide R/P is what economics is. (And politics and diplomacy and war! – the Old West fights over water rights were not just in the movies and are happening in different forms today right here in many watersheds. The long term solution is pregnancy prevention!
Thanks to Mr Cherry for focusing attention on the mechanisms by which we balance our individual rights with our community efforts right here in Chatham. (I still think the waste water could cool the power plant, but the devil is in the details and I don’t know the details. Just don’t let this not happen because someone is too lazy to change an old policy that does not recognize new technology – muchly improved waste water treatment.)
John Dykers