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Wednesday, July 07, 2021

Property rights

At first glance it might seem at least a little bit insensitive of Kailas to even bring this up.  

The developers of the ill-fated Hard Rock Hotel have sued the city over a new measure that would restrict the height of future construction at the site of the building collapse, alleging that it’s a politically motivated ploy from City Council member Kristin Gisleson Palmer.

The developers say that lowering the maximum building height allowed at the site from 190 feet to 70 feet constitutes an illegal taking of their property, and they’re asking an Orleans Parish Civil District Court judge to declare a motion sponsored by Palmer null and void. 

After everything that happened here, the damage, the disruption, the cost, the injuries, the deaths, the exposure of the corrupt systems that underlie all of it, you'd think that the property owner doesn't  just say "my bad" and start over.  But we're so far off the edge of the map with regard to oligarchic late stage capitalism now that all the human questions about what should happen with that space now must take a back seat to the sacred "property" rights of people like Kailas to suck maximum value out of it.

Also he's probably just thinking the developers own their own judges now anyway. Might as well put that work. 

The developers’ preemptive lawsuit says that the process leading up to the June 3 vote was fatally flawed and that a judge should order it reversed. The lawsuit claims that an April report from the City Planning Commission cited only vague generalities about economic damage instead of specific violations of the city's comprehensive zoning ordinance.

The lawsuit has been assigned to Judge Jennifer Medley. The city declined to comment.

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