Ohio voters to government: Hands off our property

It’s no surprise that a new poll has found two-thirds of Ohio voters don’t even want government to be able to take property for clearly public projects such as roads and bridges, let alone private ones. They’ve seen, with Norwood and other cases the Enquirer has written about, how the traditional concept of eminent domain has been abused. Governments have turned it into a tool to take any property that isn’t generating “enough” tax revenue – then argue it’s promoting economic development for the “public good.”

As the Enquirer reported Sunday, a Quinnipiac University poll found strong sentiment for curbing this abuse, with 78 percent saying it should be more difficult for the state to use eminent domain. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled unanimously last July that economic benefit to the community alone isn't enough to satisfy the “public use” requirement. And a staggering 82 percent of Ohioans think that using it for the kind of private development that Norwood’s Rookwood Exchange shopping/office/ condo project was about shouldn’t be allowed, period. “Rarely do we see numbers this lopsided,” said the polling group’s assistant director. "Voters just do not like eminent domain.”

Ohio lawmakers had better keep the court’s clear direction in mind while crafting an eminent domain reform bill this session. State Sen. Tim Grendell, R-Chesterland, says his bill will curtail abuses while reserving the right to take property for public use “as a tool of last resort.” Let’s hope so. As Grendell said, if lawmakers don’t pass a reform with real teeth, angry voters may approve something even more restrictive with a ballot initiative.

Voters sense what the court noted last July – that something deeper than economic benefit or public advantage is at stake here. It is the bedrock principle of private property. The right to own is integral to liberty; many would say it defines liberty. Government cannot trifle with that fundamental individual right.