Revisiting an old shame

There are some things I cannot swallow… ever. .. some injustices I can neither forget nor forgive. They stick to me like a boil that won’t heal, so occasionally I need to vent again. I guess I have hopes of reaching a few more people and making them aware of the thoughtless destructiveness of government. Such destruction actually takes place every single day, wiping out property and dreams of individuals. It’s called eminent domain and it has been and continues to be abused. Over the past few decades, eminent domain has been (mis)used by government for developments that government simply should not be involved in. Locally, destruction of dozens of homes and many businesses to provide Best Buy space for their corporate headquarters is a monstrous example.

There are so many other examples, but there is one that will probably remain at the top of my hate list… the tragedy of the Fuji-Ya restaurant.

I wrote about it in 2005, but the restaurant was destroyed in 1968 by the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board, who simply stole the parking spaces of the restaurant. In court, the board ended up paying 3.5 million dollars for the property, but a woman’s dream was already dead, as was the woman.

The property, once a truly wonderful restaurant, still sits, 40 years later, unchanged and unused by the board that thought they needed it. I occasionally drive by and get angry again.

The destruction of the Fuji-ya was an example of the cruel and twisted thinking that so often occurs because government has accumulated grossly excessive power, and the ever-changing officials wield it without concern for who they hurt.