The city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina is trying to steal property using eminent domain, but some citizens aren't just sitting idly by and letting it happen, including a listener of The LAVA Flow. Thank you for joining me on the thirty-fifth episode of The LAVA Spurt, Myrtle Beach City Stealing Property. And, make sure to hang out to the end of this episode for your chance to win a prize pack!
Tim, a listener of The LAVA Flow, sent me a couple of articles relating to the city of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, using eminent domain to steal the property of business owners. Myrtle Beach announced on January 24th that the Superblock area of Myrtle Beach would essentially be torn down to make way for a rebuild of Chapin Memorial Library and The Children’s Museum of South Carolina. This is a business district in the city and there are at least two property owners who do not want to sell their property, and they are telling the city to shove it.
The city has apparently made offers on the two properties but the price has not been right for the businesses. So, instead of dealing with it in a fair, rational way, the city is just going to steal the fucking property. And why wouldn't they? Isn't that what would happen if Wal-Mart wanted to buy the property, or if I wanted to buy the property? Of course not. But, the city has some perceived power supposedly given to them by voters who don't have that power to give away anyway, all because of some social contract that no one ever signed. It's pretty simple. If I don't have the power to steal your business, then how can I possibly vote to give the power to someone else to steal your business? This is irrational and immoral.
But some citizens of Myrtle Beach aren't taking this sitting down. A group of downtown business owners and Myrtle Beach residents formed a human chain around Jack Thompson’s Photography Studio & Gallery Wednesday afternoon to show support for the local business owner in his fight against the city’s eminent domain decision.