By Barry Goldwater Jr. and Evan Bolick | The Republic
Architectural preference at the Phoenix Chinese Cultural Center cannot trump property rights, no matter how loudly some object
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are published for discussion purposes only.)
If a tea party started the American Revolution, a brake shop in Mesa started a private property rights revolution in Arizona.
The year was 2001, and the state’s third-largest city sought to seize Bailey’s Brake Shop in order to facilitate a redevelopment plan. The public outrage that followed was so pronounced it led to a statewide measure in 2006.
Proposition 207, the “Private Property Rights Protection Act” was passed overwhelmingly, placing significant new restrictions on what governments in Arizona could do to harm the value of one’s private property.
Why this political trip down memory lane? Because some politicians at the City of Phoenix are now acting as if this history, or the law, doesn’t exist.
Consider the discussion taking place over the Chinese Cultural Center near Sky Harbor Airport.
