How they did it; a grassroots success story

Fighting the good fight

[Reprinted from Issues & Views July 15, 2002]

The Castle Coalition is a public advocacy group dedicated to helping citizens protect their private property rights and oppose the unconstitutional abuse of eminent domain. A report from the organization describes how small business owners in Pittsburgh worked together to defeat the city's plans to condemn 64 buildings that housed 125 businesses in downtown.

When a core of city residents learned that the Fifth and Forbes area was to be demolished and the property turned over to a Chicago developer for the creation of a shopping mall, they got busy. After first forming a citizen group, in order to disseminate information about the planned project, they then formed a Community Development Corporation, and began to fight the planned evictions of dozens of tenants.

With the assistance of the Allegheny Institute, a policy think tank, these neighborhood activists learned how to get the word out--speaking at public meetings, contacting the media, writing op-ed articles for local newspapers. With further help from the Institute for Justice, a public interest law firm, they placed billboards in appropriate places that told of the projected demolition and the prospective loss of businesses and livelihoods.

Faced with a defiant opposition, the anchor store for the projected mall decided it did not want to deal with a growing number of angry residents, and withdrew its offer to participate. The city backed down and another government's abuse of eminent domain was thwarted.

To learn more about the current epidemic of this type of government abuse throughout the country, see earlier I&V reports of (1/14/02), (2/11/02), and (4/22/02).

To keep up to date on this issue and to learn of the steps being taken to protect citizens' private property, visit the website of the Castle Coalition and of the Institute for Justice.

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