Your Land Is His Land

More than 75% of the land needed for the Dallas Cowboys' new stadium in Arlington has either been condemned by the City of Arlington or has condemnation procedures in the works. That, according to an article in the Dallas Morning News. However, the city still claims that this is not due to them making low-ball offers to property owners. In fact, according to council member Robert Rivera, the landowners or to blame for being greedy. "Whenever you're dealing with the eminent domain use, there are those who feel that you have unlimited resources to acquire the property," he told the News. Not so, says Glenn Sodd, an attorney representing some of the folks whose land the city has set their sights on. He said the high percentage of eminent domain cases shows that the city has low-balled residents and business owners and that its incentive program is inadequate. "The offers obviously aren't sufficient otherwise they wouldn't be hiring lawyers and forcing condemnations to be filed," Mr. Sodd said.