Ditto

Another Letter to the Editor in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram daily newspaper about the Trinity Uptown scam.

Are you kidding?

Would you really describe the Trinity Uptown as a "flood-control project"? If it were truly for flood control, the cost of improvement was estimated at $10 million. Instead, after local politicians and developers saw dollar signs and joined in, it has exploded into a $909 million economic development bill that taxpayers have to fund. With a difference of $899 million, flood control seems to be an afterthought!

When I hear a mayor or official say "eminent domain will only be used as a last resort," it makes me laugh. That phrase is code-speak for "start packing your things up." The Trinity Uptown and Arlington’s new Cowboys Stadium are two of several local examples of property owners losing their land to larger business owners. How is a stadium with restricted access an example of "public use"? How does one justify taking a person’s auto-salvage yard and handing the land over to a future restaurant owner?

As land continues to be developed, these cases will become even more commonplace. Yes, property owners, especially the working class and the powerless, do need protection from eminent domain abuse. But, if these massive tourist projects are simply going to be disguised as flood control or "blight elimination," what is the point?

— Linda A. Lancaster, Arlington