Mississippi City Faces Lawsuit Over Property Rights
Some folks in a Mississippi city are saying, “Hold on a minute!” It seems Ocean Springs might have slipped up in the way it talked about property. In a federal lawsuit filed recently, residents are upset that the city didn’t tell them their homes might be taken away through eminent domain. Eminent domain means the government can buy your land for public use.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Southern District of Mississippi. It says that Ocean Springs had a plan for “urban renewal.” This plan could affect the homes of four people and a Baptist church. The city thought parts of the area were “blighted,” which could let them take the properties.
The property owners think Ocean Springs didn’t give them a fair chance to fight back. They say, “Ocean Springs can’t just call our neighborhoods slums without letting us know!” Dana Berliner from the Institute for Justice, a law firm helping the property owners, says this is against the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit asks the court to say that the city’s plan follows unfair rules.
What the Mayor Has to Say
The Mayor of Ocean Springs, Kenny Holloway, says the city’s plan is following Mississippi’s rules. He adds that the Mississippi Attorney General will handle the claims that the rules aren’t right. Holloway says, “Our plan didn’t break any rules. It’s sad that our residents are suing instead of talking to us. I invited them to discuss this.”
Holloway explains that residents were given a choice to keep their properties out of the plan.
How It All Started
In April, Ocean Springs agreed to a plan that said some properties in the Railroad District were bad. This decision got the majority-Black neighborhood tangled up in the city’s big idea for change. This idea is all about making the place better. It follows a law from 1972 that says cities can stop slums and bad places from spreading.
But the problem is, property owners had just ten days to challenge the plan. The city didn’t tell them about the “blight” label or what it meant. So, time ran out, and now the property owners think their rights were taken away.
One of the people suing Ocean Springs, Cynthia Fisher, has lived in the Railroad District for seven decades. She passed her home to her daughter. She doesn’t want to sell, but she’s worried the city might force her to. She says, “We love our neighborhood and keep our homes nice. What the city did, calling it a slum without telling us, was wrong.”
In the end, it looks like there’s a fight brewing in Ocean Springs over how the city’s plan affects people’s homes. Stay tuned for updates on this property rights battle! 🏠💼🚧