Traci Tyne Hilton - Mitzi Neuhaus 02 - Eminent Domain

by Traci Tyne Hilton

  “I actually don’t see very well. It’s not the clearest image. Is it to scale?” Mitzy asked in her most charming tone.

  “Well, no, not exactly. This is sort of the artist’s rendition,” Martin explained.

  “Then could you explain what the traffic pattern will be? The Tramline seems to run on the south side of the street. It appears to be only one track. But I wonder how residents like Carmella will be able to get in and out of their driveways?”

  “Ah! Good question. That takes us to the next image.” He clicked another button on his small computer. “Now this isn’t Baltimore. This is the planned redesign of Chestnut, behind Baltimore. We have created a sort of alley,” He swept his laser pointer up and down the picture and stopped at one end. “This is the entrance to the alley. Residents come in and out here and then enter their homes from the back.”

  Carmella gasped and Mitzy slapped the table with her open hand.

  “Wait a second,” Alonzo and Enid said at the same time. Alonzo let Enid have the floor.

  “I would have to pull my car in through the garden? I have an attached two car garage on the front of my home. I can’t get into it from the back garden and I wouldn’t ask anyone else to try either. We would have to add pavement to our backyards. Do you know what that would do to our property values? This is unheard of.” Frida patted her mother’s back and whispered in her ear.

  “Ahh, no, we wouldn’t allow pavement actually. This will be a totally green neighborhood renovation. I think you’ll love it. You will need to install a green lawn driveway. They’re fantastic and you’ll love them.”

  “You won’t give my kid a grassy park because you want to conserve water but you will require we put in a grass driveway? I’m confused, frankly,” Carmella said in a high tight voice that sounded angry.

  “It’s not quite like that. You’d have all sorts of choices, clover, thyme, rye, and those kinds of things. But that’s not the point. The point is the tram. It’s a really fantastic piece of our cities circulatory system.”

  “Where does it go?” Alonzo asked.

  “It’s a North South line,” Martin said.

  “But where does it go? Why put it on Baltimore? One end of Baltimore is an auto shop, that would prefer cars to drive past and on the other end is a church that has sufficient parking. And in between is a neighborhood. Who does this line serve?” Alonzo was starting to ruff up his hair as he spoke.

  “Well it serves the neighbors. It makes taking mass transit downtown much easier.”

  “Have you done a study of the street to see how often the neighbors go downtown?” Alonzo asked.

  “We did a survey. A traffic survey. This street only serves the homes on it. Almost exclusively. We found that if we could accommodate access to the homes on the street in a reasonable way then using Baltimore Street would be the least traffic intrusive of all the streets in the area.”

  “You said your picture was not to scale,” Mitzy said. “It appeared that there was room for traffic on the North side of Baltimore Street. Am I reading the picture correctly?”

  “Um…not exactly,” Martin said. “That would be a bicycle road, which is something we are really excited about. There is no other bicycle artery for three miles in any direction from this road. And it would be absolutely safe for the bikers as there would be no automobile traffic. We are so excited about the plan in fact, that this will be the model for all future tram lines.”

  Mitzy was just getting started though and had a series of questions she thought would be much harder for him. “How do the residents on the North side of the street access their homes? Their property lines border the backyards of homes as well. There’s no room for an alley.”

  “Not yet! But we did a survey,” he smiled at Alonzo, “and found that most of those homes are rentals. We feel that the use of space is inefficient. We are taking bids from builders right now,” he smiled again at Alonzo, nodding for emphasis, “for new plans. In the interest of the public we will acquire that land and replace the homes with multifamily dwellings. Ah, ha, ha,” he began his nervous chuckle again, “Don’t think the worst though. Not apartments. We are planning a row house patio community for families. The design we select will incorporate front porches for community and an alley for access.”

  Carmella interjected before Mitzy could continue, “Increasing the number of family homes?”

  “Yes! You got it,” Martin said enthusiastically.

  “But decreasing yard space and adding no playground,” Carmella said.

  Martin deflated a little. “If a plan comes in that meets all the needs and has a park we would be sure to consider it.”

  Mitzy was ready to go again. “The city is able to buy out all of the homes on the North side?”

  “Well, where it is an issue of the greater good of the public we have the right to do so on our terms. Ahem.” He coughed into his fist, clearing his throat.

  “You have the right to do so. I see. And where is the stop to be on this line?”

  “The overall plan is to connect the new MAX line that serves Southeast in the area of 92nd. One end of Baltimore Street is already a stop for the bus line, so this will connect the buses and then go on past this neighborhood and all the way down to 92nd.”

  “Where will the stop be on this segment of the line?” Mitzy asked again.

  “We’ll have one near the parking lot of the historic church,” Martin said with a sigh.

  “Near?” Mitzy said.

  “Yes.”

  “And where will the people who get on this train ‘near’ the historic old church park their cars?” she asked. She had a sinking feeling, thinking about the beautiful acres that her VictorianMansion sat on. At least one half acre was in front of the inn.

  Martin sighed, but then sucked his breath in and started in. “That’s the next item. I’m sure you are all aware of the decrepit property on the end of the street.”

  “The beautiful VictorianMansion of unparalleled historic significance to our part of the city that we are just now pouring our hearts’ blood into so that we can follow our dreams of running a high end inn that serves the people of this town?” Carmella asked breathlessly and with unusual poetry.

  Martin stared at her. “When we did our survey the home was in arrears and the bank was pursuing foreclosure.” He flipped through some notes that had been sitting in front of him. “Yes, here it is. According to our study it was in such a state of disrepair that we would be required to, ahem, condemn the building.” He scratched his forehead and looked at the ground. “We are in the process of condemning it right now. The whole area, erm, will become a significant stopping point, park and ride location with, erm, shops, and ah, ah, fueling stations, and well, a um, recharging station as well.”

  As he struggled his way through his description Enid stood up. She took one firm step after another slamming her walker down with force until she was directly in front of him. Her small, sharp finger pointed at his nose. “Over my dead body,” she said.

  Alonzo stood up as well. “Our lawyers will be talking with you,” he said. “Consider this the official neighborhood rejection of the plan.”

  “Well, erm. Uhh,” Martin began, “You see. You all don’t have a quorum. Not enough of you showed up so er, technically we can move forward, um unopposed.” He looked at the clock on the far wall for a moment and then smiled. “But you’re in construction. Why don’t you draw up some plans for the new neighborhood? We’ll be sure to consider them.” Martin shuffled his feet and stood straighter. He smiled and looked around the room as everyone began to stand and turn away from him.

  Frida joined Enid, and led her out of the meeting room with one hand resting lightly on her mother’s shoulder. Carmella, Alonzo and Mitzy joined them outside.

  “This is my card,” Mitzy said to Frida and Enid. “Please keep in touch. We can’t let this happen to our neighbors.”

  “This is much worse than you turning that beautiful home into a hotel,
” Enid said. “I didn’t like the idea of that. Didn’t honor the family, I thought. But I’d much rather a hotel than a parking lot.”

  Frida gave Mitzy her card as well. “Please call me right away and tell me what to do.”

  “Should we split the work?” Mitzy said with a laugh as they drove away. “I’ll take the FBI and you take the City Council?”

  “I think we need Brett,” Alonzo said stiffly.

  “You heard him though. He doesn’t want to get involved. Could we use your corporate lawyer?”

  “I like him and all. But he’s not good enough for this. You realize they are going to condemn the inn and half of the street? Like people aren’t badly off enough as it is.” He stared at the road, brows drawn down over his black eyes.

  “I can ask him again. I can at least tell him what is going on and see who he recommends.” Mitzy said in her most soothing voice.

  “Thanks. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”

  They held a war council immediately the following morning upstairs in the NeuhausBuilding in Alonzo’s new suite of offices. Brett and Aerin were there, Sabrina, Carmella and Diego, and a friend of Diego’s named Frankie Abalone. Frankie was a youngish man with a mop of black curly hair, a thick mustache, a well cut suit, and pointy-toed Italian leather shoes. He tapped his foot impatiently as Alonzo laid out the City’s plan for Baltimore Street.

  “You’re going to have to sue them.” Frankie stood up. He began pacing the room. “Get in there right away and let them have it. I think I can do a good thing for you with this one. They can’t just take away your great property there. I was going to take Stacey there as soon as it opened.”

  Brett stared at Frankie contemptuously as Frankie spoke. “This is your land. You’ve got your papers, right? You’ve got the inspections and the permits? No reason at all to condemn it as far as I can see.”

  “Pardon me, Frankie,” Brett said. “Are you a lawyer?”

  “Yes. I am. And these guys will need good representation so when Diego mentioned it to me I said I’d come help. A good lawyer is not cheap.”

  Aerin turned away and looked toward the window, as though thinking of escape. “You do not want to get involved in this,” she said to Brett in an overly dramatic stage whisper.

  “What kind of law do you practice, Frankie?” Brett asked.

  “All kinds. I do what needs to be done.”

  Brett shook his head. “And you passed the bar exam?”

  “Sure. I passed a multistate bar exam back in 2005.” He gave Brett a ‘what’s it to ya’ kind of look.

  “I’m sorry, and what kind of law do you usually practice?”

  “Immigration law. Your friends here have rights and they need to fight to have those rights upheld.”

  “What exactly are our rights in this, Frankie?” Mitzy asked. She was withholding judgment on his qualifications until she heard more. She could tell her brother didn’t approve. But Brett was a prosecuting attorney who only recently began working for the state after a long stint at the county level. He was the best there was at his job. But Mitzy realized, like in all things, it takes all kinds and Brett may not be able to help them.

  “You know, the right to own your own property.”

  Brett had had enough. “I don’t think you can win this. I’m sorry. What are the terms they used in your meeting? They said ‘condemning’ all of this land and ‘for the best interest of the public,’ and for a ‘public use’ right?”

  “Yes,” Alonzo responded

  “It may have sounded conversational at the time. But those are very specific terms having to do with the government’s rights of Eminent Domain.” Brett looked around and cleared his throat before he went on. “Very recently Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the majority opinion in the Kelo case, deciding for the government. What were his words,” Brett paused for effect. He had come prepared. “The essence was that Stevens defined public purpose as anything that meets the ‘diverse and always evolving needs of society.’ What you have here is a city dedicated to increased use of mass transit and bikes. The city has a reasonable plan to increase their use for the public benefit. The courts will see things the way the Supreme Court has stated they should see them. You need to get out of this while you can with as much as you can.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Carmella asked. “What can we get out of this with?”

  Brett took a moment to answer. He looked at Frankie as though giving him the floor.

  Frankie turned away from Brett and ran his fingers through his shiny black hair. A gold bracelet jangled against his watch. He lifted his foot and shined the toe of his black wing tips on the back of his slacks, but didn’t say anything.

  “I think you get what the city will pay you for the land.” Brett said. “You guys can harvest the forest yourself and get the money from that. Let a professional come in and strip the house before they complete demolition. Some of that woodwork is worth a lot of money. Have a nursery come in and see if there are any valuable plants to harvest. But I’m sure you’d think of all that. Just get what you can out of the property. I know I don’t know what you paid for it…even if it was a steal you would be lucky to get the same amount back from the government.”

  Fat tears rolled down Carmella’s cheek. Diego put his arm around her waist and pulled her close.

  “How would you fight this?” Alonzo directed his question to Frankie.

  Frankie faced Alonzo, his hands clasped behind his back, “Well,” he began to say.

  “Fight it?” Aerin asked, aghast. “Really? Even after what Brett just said? It’s a hopeless case. It’s a point that has been fought at the Supreme Court level and lost over and over again. And the city is right. A tram and bike corridor is in the best interest of the public.”

  Brett leaned to his wife and whispered something in her ear.

  “It’s not a cause worth fighting,” Aerin said. “But you can ignore the rest of my husband’s advice if you want. Don’t strip the house. Move it.”

  Mitzy shook her head. “That won’t do. All of our money is tied up here. We can’t afford a new piece of land much less the moving fees.”

  Aerin tossed her hands up in exasperation. “It’s a good idea, but you don’t have to take it. An inn like you want would be much better in the country anyway. Somewhere out towards the beach.” She stood up. “Let’s go Brett. They don’t want to listen to reason.”

  “Listen, sis. You can call me if you want me to explain any of the legal matters. I’ll help you all I can. But this is a losing battle.” He rumpled his sister’s curly hair as he left.

  “It’s better that they are gone. Now we can really talk.” Frankie sat back down at the table. “You are going to sue them. You are going to nickel and dime them to death every step of the way. Don’t sue over the big issue. Sue over the little ones until they just give up.”

  Diego spoke for the first time. “Frankie, we can’t afford that. There has to be something else we can do.”

  Frankie sized up the crowd he was working with. “There is. For the record, we’ll just call it negotiating.”

  Alonzo turned to the window and watched Brett Neuhaus drive away in his Lexus.

  “We need to do a little digging first, to see what we have to negotiate with. Find out who is financing the project and who is pushing for the project. Find out what other plans were rejected and why. These things don’t get put together by chance. Someone wants the tram on this street. If you find out who it is then you find out why they want it. If you know why they want it there…you can negotiate, get what I’m saying?”

  “No,” Carmella said, wiping the tears off of her cheek with her sleeve.

  “Then let me elaborate. Most likely someone is hiding something. Our best negotiation is to bring that something to light.” Frankie put his laptop on the table and sat down, an eager grin on his face.

  After a long day of work and worry Mitzy went to bed with a heavy conscience. She had convi
nced herself that pulling a fast one on the Feds with the Pods was okay since the furniture was already promised to buyers, and she had already taken deposits on it. But what Frankie was talking about…well…Do-Good Dotty would not have been impressed.

  Enid Gorely, the elderly woman whose rental home was at risk from the tram development, moved quickly down the sidewalk with her walker banging in front of her. She had moved out of her home on Baltimore Street two years ago and into an apartment community by the mall. Today she had given up her bridge game to meet with Mitzy and talk about what they needed to do.

  Baltimore was a good street. The homes had big yards; the kids went to good schools. It wasn’t noisy. And the rent from her old house was paying for her new apartment. She wasn’t going to give up her home and social life for the paltry sum the city would endeavor to say was the value of a condemned house in a down market.

  When she was at the door of the Neuhaus building she leaned her walker on the wall and opened the door. She reached back around for her walker and dragged it in behind her as she entered the office.

  Sabrina had hopped to her feet to help Mrs. Gorely in but was too late. “Where is Mitzy?” Enid asked, peering at Sabrina from behind a pair of pink cat-eye glasses

  “She’s upstairs talking with Alonzo, but she’ll be down in a minute. He has to get back over to the community center site.”

  “Then I’ll sit here and wait.” Enid sat down and leaned forward, elbows resting on the handles of her walker, attentively waiting. “What community center is Alonzo working on?” she asked Sabrina.

  “The new Huddington center, out by the Wal-Mart.” Sabrina said.

  “Oh…I see. I’ve been reading about that new center. It’s a bit of city pride, isn’t it? It’s sort of the poster girl for economic recovery.” Enid rubbed her hands together. She had a glitter in her eye. “But I didn’t know that Miramontes was on that job.”

  “He’s quite busy now between that and the new inn on Baltimore. I think he thinks the center is a good sign of economic recovery as well.”