Real Estate & Property Law

Diner My Shiny, Shiny Love

By Robert Thomas (inversecondemnation.com)

Who among us hasn't, at one point or another, found some comfort in that icon of mid-century americana, the greasy spoon diner? In the words of Martin Sexton:

Like a locomotive they were streamlined
And the blue prints were drawn up from a dream of mine
Slap 'em up put 'em on the train
Out to Michigan up to Maine
You may find a diner down in Georgia or
Carolina off the twenty by the Piggly Wiggly
In the country out of Waynsboro

....

Diner my shiny shiny love
In the night you're all I'm thinking of
Diner my shiny shiny love

The above video is surely the product of the "shiny shiny love" about which Sexton sings. It presents the case of Curley's Diner in Stamford, Connecticut, and the fallout from the city's earlier failed attempt to take its property. In Aposporos v. Urban Redev. Comm'n, 790 A.2d 1167 (Conn. 2002), the Connecticut Supreme Court held that the redevelopment commission's blight determination was inadequate, and permanently enjoined the the taking. For background, read the New York Times' coverage of the story back in 1999. As a result of the decision, Curley's apparently is like these other classic "holdouts," surrounded by a sea of redevelopment.

The video mentions a case challenging redevelopment takings that "is slated to go before the U.S. Supreme Court" but this leads me to believe that this video might be a bit dated. Even if so, its still a good reminder of the real-life property owners who so often are on the receiving end of eminent domain, and why we love them.

Full post as published by inversecondemnation on March 03, 2010 (boomark / email).