On Friday, at my own site, I blogged about the despicable Kelo decision that gave municipalities the power to take people’s property away and give that property to private entities all in the name of doing good for the public. Why should you own and keep your home if some private company or individual could build something that would raise the tax base of the community?

As an American history teacher with a class on the Revolution, this decision infuriates me. One of the strongest motivating factors among the Revolutionary leaders was their desire to protect their property and the fear that a legislature in which they could not be represented would inevitably violate their rights to life, liberty, and property. To say that they would not have been pleased by the Kelo decision is a vast understatement.

I think eminent domain will become a bigger and bigger issue in local elections. And, I hope, politicians are starting to realize that taking property from individuals might not be the politically safe thing to do. For example, the community of Walnut Creek, northwest of Oakland, was thinking of taking Julia Maxwell’s home that was built in 1933 in order to build an expansion on the public library. This wouldn’t be a private use, but even for a public use like this, the outcry was sufficient to get the City Council to vote unanimously to reduce their plans.

Parness said the city will scale back plans, which had evolved into a 50,000-square-foot library and included a coffee shop and book store in a five-level parking garage.

They may still buy her land, but they’re going to be forced to pay more and probably pay to move the home to another location.

The Council’s decision to change its plans seems to have been provoked by public unhappiness with their tinkering with eminent domain to take an elderly lady’s home away.

The City Council decided to call a special closed meeting to address growing public discontent to the idea of using eminent domain.

“There seemed to be an impression that we were already heading down an eminent domain path,” said Mayor Gary Skrel. “We wanted everyone to be aware that was not under consideration.”

Skrel said there was some consideration made toward the public’s attitude about the library project, especially with November’s $21 million library bond coming before voters.

The city called a special meeting Friday because it has canceled the next two meetings and will meet again Sept. 20.

“There was a sense that we needed to get the information out before the end of September,” Parness said.

Yup, it sure might hurt that bond proposal if ads showing Mrs. Maxwell and her home were juxtaposed with calls to vote against the library bond proposal. It once might have been okay for a city government to argue that one woman should give up her home so that they could have a bigger library complete with a coffee shop and book store, but perhaps the public mood is changing and politicians don’t want to be seen anymore as taking away granny’s historic house. Now, if only the dastardly New London, Connecticut government would also see the light…

UPDATE: Oops: Walnut Creek is actually Northeast of Oakland. Sorry.

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