http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/flight93_memorial wrote:
PHILADELPHIA – Relatives of those who died aboard United Airlines Flight 93 want the Bush Administration to seize the land needed for a memorial where the plane crashed in Shanksville, Pa., in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The Families of Flight 93 sent a letter earlier this month asking President George W. Bush to empower the Secretary of the Interior to take the land in dispute from a homeowner who had been in negotiations with the National Parks Service, said Patrick White, vice president of the families' organization.
The group says ground must be broken early next year in time for a memorial to be build for the 10th anniversary of the crash in 2011.
Svonavec Inc. owns one of the last large chunks of land needed for the 2,200-acre memorial, including the area where the plane crashed Sept. 11, 2001. Svonavec's treasurer Mike Svonavec has said the park service has not done enough to negotiate a deal.
The Families of Flight 93 sent a letter earlier this month asking President George W. Bush to empower the Secretary of the Interior to take the land in dispute from a homeowner who had been in negotiations with the National Parks Service, said Patrick White, vice president of the families' organization.
The group says ground must be broken early next year in time for a memorial to be build for the 10th anniversary of the crash in 2011.
Svonavec Inc. owns one of the last large chunks of land needed for the 2,200-acre memorial, including the area where the plane crashed Sept. 11, 2001. Svonavec's treasurer Mike Svonavec has said the park service has not done enough to negotiate a deal.
Eminent domain has its uses, but really should only be used as a last resort. I don't really know the history of this ongoing deal--hell I didn't even know a memorial was planned--but it appears that there is an ongoing negotiation. I would think that it's perfectly in the right of the current landowner to choose to not part with his property.
Can't the current landowner make a long term lease of part of the property for the memorial? The WTC memorial ground will still contain a building--assuming one gets built eventually.