New London, Connecticut; Adding Insult To Injury

From Bill Hobbs I learned of this post at Within The Cranium which in turn referenced this post at Hit and Run (how's that for some serious linkage?). Ultimately, they all reference this article from the Fairfield County Weekly (No, I don't know why it took a month for someone to notice) -

Those who believe in the adage "when it rains, it pours" might take the tale of the plaintiffs in Kelo v. New London as a cue to buy two of every animal and a load of wood from Home Depot. The U.S. Supreme Court recently found that the city's original seizure of private property was constitutional under the principal of eminent domain, and now New London is claiming that the affected homeowners were living on city land for the duration of the lawsuit and owe back rent. It's a new definition of chutzpah: Confiscate land and charge back rent for the years the owners fought confiscation.

In some cases, their debt could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Moreover, the homeowners are being offered buyouts based on the market rate as it was in 2000 .

If ever there was an example of pulling defeat from the jaws of victory, this is it. The backlash from this PR debacle is bound to be quick, widespread, and negative.

As it should be.