Eminent Domain, Chinese-Style

Pictures are worth thousands of words. This BBC news report puts a human face on the struggles that poor Chinese citizens face when the government decides to take their homes for commercial developers.

http://www.sky.com/skynews/video/videoplayer/0%2C%2C31200-china_p10436%2C00.html

The thing is, the eminent domain situations in China and the United States are only different because most American property owners are less desparate than their Chinese counterparts and because our governments are prevented from being half so aggressive as the Chinese. But the same basic human anguish is meted out all over our country - in the name of "progress." Check out the following report from the Chicago Tribune:


Tinley house sits in the path of $65 million development: A plan for condos, shops and a parking lot could take away a couple's longtime home
- Jo Napolitano, Chicago Tribune

Apr. 14--Peter Dennis was so in love with his small, turn-of-the-century Tinley Park home that when he took a job as a mechanic at O'Hare International Airport, he endured the hourlong commute for 16 years rather than uproot his family.

He and his wife, Frances, have lived in the house near the village's old downtown since "The Graduate" was first playing in theaters and President Lyndon Johnson was molding his Great Society in 1967. They chose the location because it was near the train station, their church and schools, making it ideal for their two young children.

The Dennises learned in early 2003 that Tinley Park had a massive development plan in the works, but it wasn't until months later that village officials uttered the phrase "eminent domain," leaving them to wonder about their future there.

For the village, development equals progress. The project calls for an 11-screen movie theater, 115 condominiums and 40,000 square feet of retail space, a mammoth structure that critics say belies the town's quaint feel.

For the Dennises, development equals heartache. A 600-space parking lot would be built on their property. It would put to an end the dream of having their children live on both sides of their house. The couple own another house on the same lot, which their son had occupied for several years.

"You dream about it for your kids and then someone says, 'We're going to build a parking lot for a cinema,' and I guess your feelings don't count anymore," Peter Dennis said. "That's kind of sad."

When asked if the village could rework the plan so the Dennises could keep their home, Assistant Village Manager Mike Mertens said, "the [Village] Board needs to look at the bigger picture, the impact on the community and the public need.

"The main option we are looking at is to try and acquire their property," Mertens said, adding that eminent domain "is always an option, but we'd rather negotiate with the family."

The $65 million redevelopment project has gained approval from the village's long-range planning board and is likely to come up for a vote by the Village Board in late spring or early summer. The private development is being funded by L&H Real Estate Group of Chicago.

The Dennises, of the 6600 block of 173rd Street, have spoken against the plan at hearings and met privately with the mayor, but they have been unable to persuade the village to reconsider.

"I'd like them to show some compassion toward my parents," said their daughter, Dorothy.

Norman Sheehan, whose family has owned a home near the Dennises since 1962, doesn't want to live across from what he calls "a monstrosity" at Oak Park Avenue and North Street.

"The traffic situation here is going to be absolutely horrendous," he said, adding that he would move if the developer gets the go-ahead. "There are a lot of people here, working-class people, who can't afford to go anywhere else, and they're going to be put out of their homes."

Peter Dennis, staring over the dividing line of his bifocals while sitting at his living-room table on a recent afternoon, said he promised himself as a younger man that he would own a home by age 30. He kept his word.

By the time he bought the house, he was a forklift mechanic earning less than two bucks an hour. The $19,000 he paid seemed like a million.

Theirs is a small house--and it fits. The Dennises are both under 5-foot-5 and move with ease under low passageways and basement ceilings that force the tall to crouch.

They've had nearly four decades to tailor-make the home, adding a sewing area in the basement for Frances to work on quilts while her husband keeps an extensive collection of tools--hanging from hooks on a far wall--that would make any do-it-yourselfer envious.

In the neighboring home, which the Dennises bought six years ago, they converted an old closet into free-standing storage space for Frances' crafts while her husband shows off a bench-size woodworking tool tucked behind a white curtain.

Beyond the craft space and tool nooks, there are things about the house that just cannot be replaced, such as the garden. Over the years, it has grown into more of a mini-farm than a seasonal hobby.

With its rows of tomatoes, onions, beans, grapes, strawberries and at least a dozen other plants, many nursed from seeds, it's almost enough to sustain the family. Frances spends days canning, preserving their harvest for the winter.

Their memories are rich and plentiful, but that may not be enough to stave off the parking lot. Like the plants in their greenhouse, all they can do is wait.