Jeff Jacoby on Kelo

Jeff Jacoby explains the story of Pasquale Cristofaro one of those affected by Kelo:

For 27 years, Pasquale had been a loyal city employee. But no one from the New London Development Corp. -- the agency charged with transforming the area into a fashionable complement to the big research headquarters Pfizer was building nearby -- ever came to talk with the Cristofaros about the city's interest in their property. No one from City Hall asked the elderly couple if there was anything that might make a relocation less traumatic. Like the other homeowners, they were told just one thing: Sell now or be forced out.

''These people don't have no respect," Pasquale, who immigrated from Italy in 1962, told me that day. ''You supposed to go like gentlemen -- make me a price, ask me a yes or no. I love this house. I pay my bill, I pay the tax. And now they say I should get out? It's not right. It's not right."

You can't steal your neighbor's property but if you are connected you can government to do it.Boston Globe