First, the news…

Upscale project ‘taking poorer folks’ homes’

Florida waterfront development could displace 6,000 mostly blue-collar residents

By JOHN-THOR DAHLBURG

Los Angeles Times

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. — It’s across the inlet from Palm Beach, but this town — mostly black, blue-collar and with a large industrial and warehouse district — could be a continent away from the Fortune 500 and Rolls-Royce set.

But Riviera Beach’s fortunes may soon change.

In what has been called the largest eminent-domain case in the nation, the mayor and other elected leaders want to move about 6,000 residents, tear down their homes and use the emptied 400-acre site to build a waterfront yachting and residential complex for the well-to-do.

The goal, Mayor Michael D. Brown said during a public meeting in September, is to “forever change the landscape” in this municipality of about 32,500. Local leaders have said the $1 billion plan should generate jobs and haul Riviera Beach’s economy out of the doldrums. (more…)

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The video of the interview between Sean Hannity and the mayor can be seen here.

Website of the city of Riviera Beach, FL

The citizens of Riviera Beach have created a website that has been keeping track of the situation.

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Although I can understand the mayor’s reasons for wanting to improve the area, taking away the homes of po’ folks who do not want to move even if the government is going to house them somewhere else is socialism at its worse. This is clearly a constitutional issue and I am just curious to see how those who preach the message that the government is racist and doesn’t care for black folks are going to handle this one (or even acknowledge it for that matter) since the mayor of this town is both black and a Democrat.

According to the mayor, the city is about 70% black.

Taking away someone’s home to make room for a mall is just wrong regardless of who is doing it.

For my Atlanta readers, did this same thing happen when the Georgia dome was being built? It seems like I remember reading about that some years ago.