“Critics have compared the move to the disastrous redistribution of land in neighbouring Zimbabwe, which was often accompanied by violence and left farms neglected.”
“The first step is for Americans to learn from the successfully affordable and accessible cities of the world. Ironically, these successful cities are typically more market-based in their planning decisions than the supposedly hyper-capitalist US.”
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/the-unbearable-truth-about-infrastructure-and-urban-sprawl/
“The street’s enhanced security and isolated location have attracted some of the wealthiest and most powerful politicians in California over the years, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. Cheng says the outcome of the hearing shows that a different standard of government applies to the rich and politically connected in San Francisco.”
“In the People’s Democratic Republic of New York City, the owner of a building covered in graffiti must pay the ‘artists’ who trespassed on and defaced his property because he whitewashed their ‘work,’ a clown in a federal gown has decreed. And he must pay a lot: $6.7 million.”
Read more: https://www.lewrockwell.com/lrc-blog/courts-force-owners-pay-vandals-deface-property-kid-not/
“The city’s actions demonstrate how far governments will go to violate constitutional rights if meaningful judicial checks are not there to stop them. Charlestown’s mayor, Bob Hall, has long wanted to destroy Pleasant Ridge—where people can rent a home or pay a mortgage for a very affordable price. And so he teamed up with a Louisville businessman, John Neace, to hatch the following scheme.”
Read more: http://ij.org/ll/february-2018-volume-27-issue-1/victory-homeowners-charlestown/
“These local governments are basically extortion rackets. And the targets are usually the less fortunate.”
Read more: https://fee.org/articles/the-latest-in-local-government-pettiness/
“Merin, 74, had sued the city for not catching the forgery when the paperwork was first filed, but lost on appeal when the court backed a judge who said she couldn’t prove the city was negligent. The feisty homeowner is fuming and has vowed to fight the decision.”
“Hermine and Tom had used their front-yard garden to grow vegetables and other plants for 17 years. Miami Shores told Hermine and Tom to destroy their garden or face fines of $50 per day. Unable to bear the cost of the fines, they dug up their garden. In today’s decision, the court upheld the vegetable ban, concluding that it is rational for government to ban ‘the cultivation of plants to be eaten as part of a meal, as opposed to the cultivation of plants for ornamental reasons.'”
Read more: http://ij.org/press-release/florida-appellate-court-upholds-ban-front-yard-vegetable-gardens/
“A farmer faces trial in federal court this summer and a $2.8 million fine for failing to get a permit to plow his field and plant wheat in Tehama County.”
Read more: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/05/24/farmer-plowing-fine/339756001/
“Sweden is conducting tests to put the country’s land registry system on blockchain, the underlying technology supporting the digital currency bitcoin, the Swedish Land Registry said on Thursday. Swedish blockchain company ChromaWay, consulting firm Kairos Future, and telecommunications service provider Telia have come up with a framework or the so-called ‘proof of concept’ through a white paper and technical demonstration of how the Swedish land registry would work on blockchain. The blockchain technology works by creating permanent, public ‘ledgers’ of all transactions that could potentially replace complicated systems such as clearing and settlement with one simple database.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-sweden-blockchain-idUSKCN0Z22KV