Eminent Domain - What is it?

According to dictionary.com, eminent domain is the power of the state to take private property for public use.

When the constitution was written, some of the founders were greatly influenced by feudalism.

Tomas Jefferson and James Madison struck a compromise that allowed the government to take land explicitly for public use. They did not use terms like "public interest" and "public purpose" for the reason that they didn't want it to be taken the wrong way.

In the case for the Blue Water Bridge plaza expansion, hundreds of people wer forced from their homes by the government.

In this map, all of the area in green is the area around the Blue Water Bridge eminent domain was enforced.

Now, the problem is that the plaza will not be using all of this land and the city has lost the tax base from all the people that once lived here.