Eminent Domain Abuse

Unable to agree on a price with the landowners, Hennepin County makes a move to condemn the land.

This article is completely filled with stupidity from our government officials. I sincerely hope that the land owners tie this mess up in court for the next 20 years.

The owners of the land west of the Target Center where the open-air stadium would be built -- a limited liability partnership with more than 100 investors -- has rejected the county's initial offer, and both sides appear to be tens of millions of dollars apart on a sales price. Although there has been some progress toward an agreement over the past two weeks, what happens next -- and whether it delays, or even jeopardizes the already-controversial $522 million stadium -- is drawing much interest.

The Legislature limited so-called infrastructure spending for the stadium to $90 million, which includes not only land purchases, but also roads, soil remediation and related projects.

The spending cap, according to county officials, limits how much money the county has to buy the land and still do the other work necessary to build the stadium. It has also set off speculation whether the Twins, who have committed $130 million to build the ballpark, will be forced to help with the land purchase.

OK our idiots got funding to build a ball park on land they didn't even own? And now they plan to steal that land from it's legal owners. Please tell me how Hennepin County's actions differ from any 2 bit ganster?

The county's first legal undertaking today will be to determine whether the landowners will agree that the stadium's construction, under state law, serves a "public purpose." If the landowners challenge the "public purpose" of the project, particularly at this late date, the move would almost certainly lead to a protracted -- and costly -- legal battle that would probably prevent the stadium from opening in 2010. Opat said that the property owners have not given a clear answer and that, without such an agreement, "we won't have a project."

Hennepin County and team officials have privately bristled that "public purpose" -- fundamental to the project -- is even in doubt at this time given the landowners' previous actions. Bruce Lambrecht, the president of Investment Management Inc., had long publicly lobbied for building the stadium on the property.

During the first six months of last year, when the stadium awaited approval from the Legislature, state records showed that nearly $33,000 was spent on lobbying by Twinsville, a group directed by Lambrecht that wanted the project on the property. The year before, state campaign finance records show, Twinsville spent $40,474 while Lambrecht was the principal lobbyist, and an additional $90,280 in 2004.

Lambrecht also publicly endorsed the stadium agreement at a kickoff press conference in April 2005, and three weeks ago mingled with county officials at a swearing-in ceremony for Opat and others.

This section had me chuckling. The morons were really happy that the investors poored money into the campaing to extort the residents of Hennepin County. Now the comissioners are surprised to find out that the Investors want to reap the financial benefits of that investment??

Just how stupid are the people in the commission?

Also, does anyone want to guess who will pay the legal fees for thiss mess?