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LSU board approves seizing land for new teaching hospital

by Associated Press

Posted on December 11, 2009 at 8:22 PM

Updated Tuesday, Dec 15 at 10:54 AM

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BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU's governing board has agreed to the expropriation of property to build a new public teaching hospital in New Orleans and a nearby new veterans hospital.

Without objection Friday, the LSU Board of Supervisors approved the use of expropriation. The resolution allows state officials working on the projects to seek a court order to seize private property if the owners refuse to sell. A judge would decide the purchase price the state must pay.

More than 450 separately-owned parcels of land are located in the footprint of the planned U.S. Veterans Affairs' hospital and the $1.2 billion public teaching facility to replace Charity Hospital. State officials say eight pieces of property have been purchased so far.

Jerry Jones, whose office supervises state-funded construction projects, says nobody has outright refused to sell their land for the hospital projects yet.
 

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moebandi9 said on December 12, 2009 at 2:36 AM

its a real shame i say when your own state will try to take land away from there own people.this is not a free country as i see it when things like this are allowed to go on.people should have the right to do as they please with what they own,they have paid for this property and also have paid taxes each year on it but yet the state canjust come in and do as they please with it.if a family were living there im sure they would treat them the same way .shame on louisiana you are not a free state anymore

charliecee said on December 12, 2009 at 10:15 AM

Big Brother, AKA Big Business, AKA Big Business, has its Steam roller warming up!

bluerunner said on December 12, 2009 at 10:27 AM

We had this problem in my old neighboorhood when West Jeff bought up all the property on Ave B, they forced my mothers landlord to sell... at least the landlord got money, all my mother got was an eviction notice.

jltnol said on December 12, 2009 at 12:34 PM

I disagree with this plan in its entirety. There is a reason why the new medical complex is being forced in that part of town, and that is to free up all the current medical complex for yet some other yet unannounced scheme involving the current footprint. You already have the land. You already have the buildings. If they are not good enough to be a modern medical complex, raze them and rebuild in the same footprint. Does anyone really believe that the "plan" is to leave the current medical footprint vacant? Full of big, tall empty buildings in a prime real estate area of the city? There IS a plan, we just don't know what it is yet. And rest assured someone's going to make a ton of money at the city and the stats' expense. Under what circumstances would you raze a residential neighborhood to build a medical complex when you already own land that could be used. Something fishy is going on here.... mark my word.

underthebus said on December 12, 2009 at 4:01 PM

The fact that LSU's entire board has approved their intent on committing an illegality should come as no surprise. But are they the judge and jury?

southernnmann said on December 12, 2009 at 10:47 PM

I find it sad today that we have officials who swear an oath to the Constitution yet do not honor it or seem to know what it means. The 10th Amendment says that the rights are reserved to the state or the people. Yet the courts want to threaten people who they know have no money to fight them. I am all for a new VA Hospital. The irony of is that it is for our veterans who fought for our freedoms. This is a big state and I am sure they could find land in N.O. East just as easy as taking 450 peoples homes. It''s not right. More important, it does not appear that the officials who swear an oath even bother to question their own actions. Of course LSU is going to approve. What does the 4th Amendment mean? "The RIGHT of the people to be secure in their persons, HOUSES, papers and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall NOT be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause.... etc. Go figure..... Can you say corruption ?

jefrois said on December 13, 2009 at 8:17 AM

This was all amazingly foreseen in the fantastic Conspiracy Thriller, BLACK ROAD 2012---almost prophetic. Explosive, controversial, a 432 page political thriller that explains Everything! http://tinyurl.com/Paranormal-Detective-Thriller

jefrois said on December 13, 2009 at 8:20 AM

This was all amazingly foreseen in the fantastic Conspiracy Thriller, BLACK ROAD 2012---almost prophetic. Explosive, controversial, a 432 page political thriller that explains Everything! I got it on Amazon. http://tinyurl.com/Paranormal-Detective-Thriller