August 31, 2010 12:10PM 

# Bulldozing Homes, Billing Homeowners 

By [Ilya Shapiro](https://www.cato.org/people/ilya-shapiro) 

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Officials in Montgomery, Alabama, are bulldozing homes in their historic civil rights district — and billing the homeowners for the cost of demolition:

Christina Walsh of the [Institute for Justice](http://ij.org/) writes about this injustice at the *[Daily Caller](http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/26/eminent-domain-by-any-other-name-still-stinks/#ixzz0xp6c0Zvv)*:

> Imagine you come home from work one day to a notice on your front door that you have 45 days to demolish your house, or the city will do it for you. Oh, and you’re paying for it.
> 
> 
> This is happening right now in Montgomery, Ala., and here is how it works: The city decides it doesn’t like your property for one reason or another, so it declares it a “public nuisance.” It mails you a notice that you have 45 days to demolish your property, at your expense, or the city will do it for you (and, of course, bill you).
> 
> 
> Your tab with the city will constitute a lien on your property, and if you don’t pay it within 30 days … the city can sell your now-vacant land to the highest bidder.

The rest of her article is [here](http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/26/eminent-domain-by-any-other-name-still-stinks/#ixzz0xp6c0Zvv). Also, see [ABC News](http://abcnews.go.com/US/montgomery-residents-accuse-city-demolishing-homes-sidestep-eminent/story?id=11470620), [Big Government](http://biggovernment.com/bewing/2010/08/26/the-mother-of-the-freedom-movement-her-neighborhood-needs-your-help/) and [Reason](http://reason.com/blog/2010/08/04/just-compensationfor-the-demol) magazine. And you can find Cato’s work on property rights [here](https://www.cato.org/property-rights).

##### Related Tags 

[Government and Politics](https://www.cato.org/government-politics), [Constitutional Law](https://www.cato.org/constitutional-law), [Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies](https://www.cato.org/robert-levy-center-constitutional-studies) 

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