Healing CharlottesvilleFree Enterprise Monument Instead of Free Speech WallLetter to the Editor, The ObserverFebruary 22, 2001 As an alternative to a monument to free speech, Charlottesville should seriously consider a monument to free enterprise. We already have forums for free expression. There is a kiosk on the downtown mall. Beta Bridge is on Rugby Road. The concrete retaining wall at the student parking lot a Charlottesville High is a grafitti wall. Your newspaper prints letters from readers. The expression of ideas through spoken and written words is not in danger. Instead of memorializing the second clause of the First Amendment, the final clause of the Fifth Amendment may be overdue for a tombstone. This clause defines free enterprise. No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation. The government can take your property by court order and for public use. The only other way the government can come into possession of your property is if you freely give or sell it to them. There is no other lawful method. Ballot initiatives and referenda cannot take property even if the vote is 99.9 percent. Public use is not the same as public good. Renewal, improvement, and revitalization are not valid reasons to take property. The intent of urban renewal was to renew the urban area, not for the public to use. Vinegar Hill was a vacant lot for twenty years after demolition. Obviously the public had no use for the property. The city should explain how poor people benefit when their property is taken and sold to rich people. City council should elaborate on why homeowners and entrepreneurs should invest in blighted neighborhoods if the government can take your property for public use and then not use it. The lingering outrage over urban renewal inspired a Live Arts play last year called Vinegar Hill. Garrett Square is also a history lesson. The property, taken for public use, is now owned by a private corporation. Crime, thought to be high before renewal, is unquestionably higher today. If entire historic neighborhoods had not been made new, there would be less clamor for historic preservation today. A free speech wall is unnecessary. A free enterprise resolution might begin to restore confidence that Charlottesville is an American city. Blair Hawkins
Printed 28 Feb 2001 Posted
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