KELO: DOESN'T WORK FOR TEMPE'S ...

... city fathers ... I think I'm gonna move to Arizona.

The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to consider Tempe's appeal of a trial judge's rejection of the city's efforts to use condemnation lawsuits to seize privately owned land so that it can be used for development of a shopping complex.

The Supreme Court's action, made without comment, let stand a Sept. 13 ruling by Judge Kenneth Fields of Maricopa County Superior Court.

Fields rejected the city's argument that taking the land for redevelopment would deliver the public benefit required by the Arizona Constitution before cities can invoke eminent domain.

Perhaps not all is lost, if there are a few judges Fields and the Arizona supremes.

Property owners, with backing from property rights advocates, had urged the Supreme Court to reject Tempe's appeal, a special action that bypassed the midlevel Court of Appeals and went directly to the state high court. The owners and advocates said Fields' ruling properly weighed whether the proposed condemnations were actually for public or private benefit.

With backing from the Arizona League of Cities and Towns, Tempe argued that Fields and a 2003 ruling by the Court of Appeals in a Mesa condemnation case placed improper hurdles in front of municipal condemnations for redevelopment projects.

But my reveries must end with this cold hard fact ... California is no Arizona!


Arizona courts; Eminent Domain; Kelo; Property rights; Supreme Court