Importantly, the amendment allows for ports to expropriate land on a "quick take" basis, which is to say, the property owner can't stop the process by going to court. This provision alone should sound alarms. Ports do have legitimate needs for land ' someplace to deposit dredge spoils, for instance. Unfortunately, what the Port of Lake Charles has done and seems to have in mind for the near future is not quite so straightforward.
With an LNG terminal and a large casino complex now occupying land which had been purchased for, but not used as, dredge spoil fields, the Port of Lake Charles is a very wealthy and rapidly growing real estate developer that also has a cumbersome and neglected sideline in deep-draft shipping.
Now, the Port of Lake Charles is interested in land north and south of the town of Hackberry and has approached property owners there. (One can only guess why a spoil field needs to be adjacent to a town, rather than in some more remote part of Cameron Parish.) If the port acquires this land, nothing says that it must be used as a spoil field. If the port gets the powers provided in Amendment 5, the property owners will have no recourse but to sell at the appraised value, even if the landowner had intended to develop the land himself.
Ports should not have the ability to expropriate private property at all. Such power is an invitation to abuse, but Amendment 5 will grant all ports the authority to force the sale of any land within their districts ' even land far from a waterway ' at its appraised value. Think of it: a real estate developer whose claims on your land are backed by the state constitution.
Vote this outrage down.
JUNE 17 If anyone ever wonders why Saints fans hate Atlanta with a capital H, here's a good indication. Radio "professionals" at an Atlanta station created an entire segment around making fun of former Saints player Steve Gleason, who is now paralyzed by ALS. Listen, nobody's ever accused DJs of being rocket scientists. But how could someone think it is amusing to pretend to ask a man with a degenerative, fatal disease if he will be alive next week? The DJs have been fired, and are now whining about how gutless their former bosses are. Wow.
JUNE 18 Here's the latest from the Advocate on the fatal hit-and-run accident allegedly involving the president of the Livingston Parish School Board. He's accused by police of hitting a 21-year-old man on a highway early Sunday and driving away. The man died at a hospital later. On Monday, police seized the president's truck and towed it away. But he's available for board meetings: apparently a $500 bond is sufficient for this type of thing over in St. Helena Parish.
JUNE 18 Former broadcast journalist Griffin Scott has posted this plea on his blog for financial assistance from his readers. Scott, who says he was fired after he wrote something fairly innocuous (for Facebook) on his wall, is suing a media giant for his job back. He's framed himself as David going after a bloated media giant, and he's probably not far off.
JUNE 18 Here's a fairly absurd column posted on DIG Magazine about the completely absurd practice of naming killer storms. Tornadoes don't have names. Blizzards don't have names. But hurricanes do, and there's a big process to bestow them, Jacques Cormery writes. He's right about the crazy assemblage of names -- this year, there's everything from Tanya to Humberto -- and his idea that we don't waste good names on killer storms is a good one.
JUNE 17 Political columnist John Maginnis has some advice for Louisiana Republicans: grow up. After the schism that occurred in this past session - fiscal hawks teaming up with Democrats to spank the Republican "majority" and hand Gov. Jindal his, er, aspirations for continued solon control -- they need to figure out how to get along with each other, Maginnis writes.
JUNE 17 Here's the Picayune's obit story for Dorothy 'Miss Dot' Domilise, the lady who made poboys at the uptown restaurant that bears her name. Miss Dot moved to New Orleans during World War II, where she met and married her husband Sam. When she passed away Friday she was 90, and had spent more than 60 of those years working at the restaurant on Annunciation Street.
JUNE 17 This editorial in the Advocate speaks in favor of the consent decrees that have federal judges overseeing police operations and the sheriff's parish prison in New Orleans. Mayor Landrieu and Sheriff Gusman can't get along, so outside forces, like the Inspector General and the judges, are needed to make sure things run right, the editorial opines.
JUNE 18 Here's a post from Manny Schewitz on Forward Progressives that is good for a chuckle. Manny had an epiphany back in November, and is sharing it with us today: he believes that Fox "News" is killing the GOP by pandering to right wing nuts. Now, don't get it twisted: Manny's not broke up about it. He says he enjoys watching the downward spiral with a shot of whiskey and "a schadenfreude chaser."
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