James Kellogg via Glenwood Springs Post Independent:
(On the author's request, “Right Angles” will appear just once a month, on the third Tuesday. James D. Kellogg of New Castle is a professional engineer, the author of the novel E-Force, and the founder of LiberTEAWatch. com. Visit JamesDKellogg.com or email jamesdkellogg@yahoo.com.)
"Throughout the United States, government and quasi-government bodies are chipping away at private property rights. This is exemplified in western Colorado by property acquisitions of the Roaring Fork Transit Authority (RFTA) to build new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations. The town of Basalt and city of Glenwood Springs endorsed RFTA's tactic of condemning private parcels within their municipal limits to advance the $46.2 million BRT project.
In the Glenwood Springs instance, RFTA claimed that a strict deadline attached to a $25 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration meant a competing private use proposed for the property needed to be quickly quashed.
Through their support, the message from local leaders is loud and clear: It's more important to help RFTA spend taxpayer dollars than secure the rights of private property owners.
The founders of our nation believed the right of citizens to acquire and possess property is as unalienable as the right to free speech. Thomas Jefferson declared, “All power is inherent in the people. … They are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion, freedom of property, and freedom of press.”
Secure private property rights are a cornerstone of economic growth and sustainability in a free market economy. Our government is responsible for upholding laws, contracts, patents and copyrights to protect private property owners from infringement by others, including government itself...."
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"Unapologetically pursuing and tracking patterns within the news others make since 2010."
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