No defending eminent domain

Re: Fallacies in Dr. Mikos' Oct. 5 guest editorial "Defending Use of Eminent Domain":

It was sad to see an elected official, who is otherwise an intelligent person, spill out the same garbage that the proeminent domain developers have been foisting upon us for years. She intimates that eminent domain will not be used against homeowners. Apparently it is okay to use it against persons who struggled to establish and work over the years to build their small businesses. Apparently the small business owner is a different class of person, and it is therefore permissible to abuse them by confiscating their property for private developers.

In the second paragraph of her defense, she says the proposed amendment would have permitted eminent domain as a last resort only. This claim simply makes no sense. The actual filing for condemnation may be the last thing the government does. When the government says they use eminent domain only if negotiations fail, it simply means they use force to take people's property against their will if the owner refuses to sell.

In the fifth paragraph, she states that the City Council has never used eminent domain for redevelopment in Moorpark. What she does not say is that developers and the city have budgets of millions of dollars for legal services to eminent domain private property owners. The individual small business owner has limited financial resources to hire needed attorneys with competency in eminent domain laws.

When a developer or the city threatens eminent domain in acquiring property, the individual property owner is virtually powerless in fighting the procedure and therefore succumbs and sells rather than depleting his or her limited resources. The fear of eminent domain obviates the final legal procedure of eminent domain.

Our country has achieved its greatness, while others have failed, by relying on the free enterprise system and observance of the 10th Commandment, "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's property." I urge Dr. Mikos and her colleagues to respect our country's great heritage and just say no to eminent domain. Aaron Epstein Sherman Oaks