B-B-Q'ing for Freedom

Like many Ogdenites, I attended a backyard barbecue on Saturday afternoon. This wasn't an ordinary run-of-the-mill Ogden neighborhood barbecue, by the way. This one was special - VERY special. What made it so was this: it was hosted by two Ogden property owners whose property had been targeted by our local Ogden planners and developers to be knocked down and resurrected as Ogden's miraculous new Wal-Mart Superstore Property & Sales Tax Generator. Milton and Cris Rodriguez are the owners of this nice little piece of residential Ogden real estate where the BBQ was held, just west of Wall Avenue, and north of 22d Street. They'd turned down all Ogden city offers on their property, and were ready to litigate in the Spring of this year, when Senator Bramble's SB-184 made the eminent domain discussion moot. The Rodriguezes served as gracious hosts, and provided a fare worthy of BBQ Kings, with ribs, burgers, dogs and all -- I mean ALL -- the trimmings. A fine time was had by all in attendance.

The purpose of the event was two-fold, I think. First and foremost, I believe it was the Rodriquez's intention, in hosting this BBQ, to thank the many people of the local community for their year-long effort, ultimately culminating in Senator Bramble's SB-184, to save their home from the wrecking-ball. Secondly, I believe it was done as a celebratory event, where local anti-eminent domain activists could finally get together socially, pat themselves on the back for a job well done, and let their hair down a little bit. I won't name names, but for sake of the privacy of the various local community "leading lights" who enjoyed the barbecue, take it from me, most of the prominent local property rights activists who worked feverishly for over a year to strip the condemnation power from local RDAs were happily in attendance.

I honestly didn't know what to expect of the Rodriguez's property, before I arrived at the event. Ogden City planning experts and our diligent and trustworthy city council had declared it "blighted," after all. Well, that's what they "said," at least. Having spent a few hours on the property myself, I'll just say that the adjective "blighted" is about as far off the mark as you can get. "Gorgeous" would be much better, I think. I'm not a part of the elite "urban planning intelligentsia," of course, so what do I know about intricate and convoluted things like blight, anyway?

I'll devote a few paragraphs to describing Mr. & Mrs. Rodriguez's property. It's parcel of a little over one acre, located on a country lane accessed off 22d Street. It's fully enclosed by modern suburban style fencing, which lends a cozy and private ambiance. There are two residences situated on the south side of the parcel and two non-residential buildings on the north. The structures are attractive and well-maintained, and clearly reflect the Rodriguez family's obvious "pride of ownership."

The barbecue was held in the fastidiously manicured backyard of the main residence, which is mainly planted in full lawn and mature trees. To the side is a large and well-tended vegetable garden. All-in-all, the place has a little bit of a "country feel" to it, even though located in the center of Ogden city. It's obvious to me why the Rodriguezes love this property. Such a private and peaceful place as theirs is unique and entirely irreplaceable. It is equally obvious to me, having visited them for a few hours, why they were willing to fight to save it.

I mingled for a while under the canopy of the back patio, but finally retreated later in the day, as the temperature ratcheted up into the mid nineties. I found a lawn chair in the shade under a pear tree toward the south of the back yard. Others had already gathered in this cool and shady spot; so I sat down to join into their discussion. Like me, they were thinking, and commenting, about the remarkable beauty and comfort of the Rodriguez place, and the sheer injustice of ousting them from their lttle piece of "heaven on earth," for the sheer sake of greedy corporate interests. Somebody wise-cracked that we'd probably be sitting right then in the Wal-Mart cosmetics department if the elite urban planners and corporate greedheads had gotten their way.

Nobody in their right mind would call the Rodriguez property "blighted," under the common definition of the word. Of course the Rodriguezes are self-made people, mere commoners; and not part of the Ogden city hoi-polloi.

As the event grew to a close, somebody brought out some bottles of non-alcoholic "bubbly," and we all hoisted our glasses for a variety of toasts to victory and freedom, before we all hit the road. This was a celebratory event, after all, so there were a couple of things (almost) left unsaid. This was a also a gathering of fairly politically-sophisticated people, who know the fight for individual property rights is not yet over. We have a new legislature convening for the 2006 session, and we all know the developers and the League of Cities & Towns will be waving the US Supreme Court's ridiculous Kelo decision in our local legislators' faces, demanding the curbs put on the city RDAs by the 2005 legislature be rolled back. I think everybody at the BBQ knew that, although the subject hardly came up at all.

In that connection, I did some research over the balance of the weekend, and came up with an excellent article from Senator Howard Stephensen, who also happens to be the president of the Utah Taxpayers Association. It's the first article I've seen that directly addresses the question of what legislation will be pending re RDAs in the upcoming legislative session. From the article:

Senator Curtis Bramble (R-Provo) will be sponsoring legislation this year to prohibit city abuses of so-called redevelopment agencies (RDAs). The Utah Taxpayers Association is teaming up with the Utah Association of Counties and the Utah School Boards Association in lobbying aggressively for this bill. All three groups have identified this bill as one of their highest priority bills for the upcoming legislative session.

The article discusses Utah RDA law, and explains the issues and arguments at length. As to the question of what's going to happen in the legislature next year, the article provides this:

Bramble’s bill will prohibit cities from using RDAs to subsidize retail and other business activity that is patronized by local customers. The bill would eliminate RDA subsidies for the following types of businesses:

• General retail including big boxes and strip malls

• Office and professional parks

• Auto dealerships

• Movie theatres

• Stadiums (i.e. SLC proposal to use RDA money for soccer stadium)

Due to increased awareness by the public and by legislators concerning RDA abuses, the Utah Taxpayers Association is confident that significant RDA reform will occur this year.

Senator Bramble's on a roll right now in his effort to protect individual citizen rights and to eliminate RDA abuse. Having the UTA, the Utah Association of Counties and the Utah School Boards Association backing his efforts can't hurt at all, either.

I spoke with Mike Jerman of the Utah Tasxpayers Association by phone this morning, by the way, and he agrees with something I've been thinking about. The Kelo decision, which basically gives redevelopment agencies carte blanche to take virtually anyone's property at the whim of local government officials, may well backfire on the developers, box-stores and government schemers. The citizens are in an uproar all over the country on this, which will afford the ideal political atmosphere and opportunity for reformists to further clip the wings of local RDAs.

There's room for optimism for property rights advocates, I think. Perhaps its time to schedule next summer's barbecue event. Maybe I'll do it on my dime this year. If I do, I'll be sure to invite a few select local developers, planners and politicians, just in time for the main course. They're not half bad, I've heard, after being grilled over hot coals with Senator Bramble's special recipe BBQ sauce.