One Step Closer to Eviction
BOSTON — Michael Cristofaro said he woke up Tuesday morning feeling that, along with his property rights, he had just been stripped of his citizenship. Hours earlier, officials in New London, Conn., had voted to evict the Cristofaros and Susette Kelo from their homes in a waterfront area of a struggling community.
It was Kelo who lent her name to the 2005 Supreme Court case that unsuccessfully challenged the right of governments to use eminent domain to seize non-blighted private property for commercial development.
Kelo and Cristofaro's 80-year-old father, Pasquale, were among seven original plaintiffs in Kelo vs. City of New London. The 5-4 ruling in favor of the city set off a flurry of legislation around the country to limit the practice of eminent domain. Developers in turn pounced on the opportunity to propose new projects on privately held sites.
"I don't feel like an American citizen today at all," Cristofaro said Tuesday. "I feel like my rights have been totally violated."
The New London City Council voted 5-2 late Monday to "proceed with the process to obtain possession" of the holdout properties on a peninsula known as Fort Trumbull. The city attorney must still seek court approval to remove Kelo and the Cristofaros, a process that could take months.
The largely residential, 90-plus-acre parcel to be redeveloped was selected almost a decade ago to house offices, condominiums, a hotel, shops and restaurants that the city said would generate increased tax revenue. Much of the property was razed and now sits vacant.
Authorities in New London also vowed to collect back taxes and other fees from the displaced property owners. The city's action defied a recommendation by Gov. M. Jodi Rell to relocate the Fort Trumbull residents who had turned down financial settlements because they wanted to remain in a once-bustling neighborhood where many buildings dated from the mid-19th century.
"I remain sympathetic to the efforts of the few remaining owners," Rell wrote in a letter to New London Mayor Elizabeth Sabilia. The Republican governor proposed setting aside a small piece of land within the redevelopment area for those residents.
Five of the original plaintiffs have settled with the city since the Supreme Court decision and have moved or agreed to move.
Sabilia said Tuesday that she respected the plaintiffs' right to pursue their case all the way to the Supreme Court. But she said her small city desperately needed an economic infusion.
