American Dream

The Oregon legislature is considering a bill to ban the use of eminent domain for private purposes. Dave Hunnicutt, of Oregonians in Action, says his group will put the measure on the ballot if the legislature does not pass it.

While Oregonians are upset with the Kelo ruling, eminent domain is not as big an issue Oregon as it is in California, where the Coalition for Redevelopment Reform plans a rally in San Jose on August 13. Redevelopment agencies in California freely use eminent domain for their projects, but in Oregon, whose planning motto is "if you throw enough money it at, they will come," agencies mainly prod development with tax-increment financing.

An Oregon city you never heard of, for example, is planning to spend millions of dollars of tax-increment finance money on so-called "urban renewal" projects such as a new stadium, a shopping center, and a city hall.

Incidentally, if you missed the Preserving the American Dream conference, Iowa State University economist David Swenson gave an excellent presentation on why tax-increment financing districts fail to spur regional economic development. Instead, all that happens is that development takes place that would have otherwise taken place (though not necessarily in the same location) and developers start to expect that all their developments will be subsidized.