Get Free Ebook Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage, by Jeff Benedict
Since e-book Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict has great advantages to read, lots of people now expand to have reading practice. Supported by the established innovation, nowadays, it is uncomplicated to obtain guide Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict Even guide is not existed yet out there, you to look for in this internet site. As just what you can discover of this Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict It will actually alleviate you to be the very first one reading this e-book Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict as well as obtain the advantages.
Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage, by Jeff Benedict
Get Free Ebook Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage, by Jeff Benedict
Suggestion in picking the best book Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict to read this day can be gained by reading this web page. You could discover the very best book Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict that is offered in this world. Not only had actually the books published from this country, however also the other countries. And also currently, we suppose you to check out Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict as one of the reading materials. This is just one of the best books to accumulate in this site. Check out the resource and look the books Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict You could find lots of titles of the books supplied.
As known, book Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict is popular as the window to open up the globe, the life, and brand-new point. This is exactly what the people now require so much. Also there are many people which do not like reading; it can be an option as reference. When you truly require the methods to develop the following inspirations, book Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict will actually guide you to the means. Moreover this Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict, you will have no regret to obtain it.
To get this book Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict, you could not be so confused. This is on the internet book Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict that can be taken its soft data. It is various with the online book Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict where you can purchase a book and after that the vendor will certainly send the published book for you. This is the place where you can get this Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict by online and after having manage buying, you can download Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict on your own.
So, when you require quickly that book Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict, it does not need to get ready for some days to get the book Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict You could straight obtain guide to conserve in your device. Even you enjoy reading this Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict almost everywhere you have time, you can appreciate it to read Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict It is definitely handy for you that intend to obtain the a lot more precious time for reading. Why do not you invest 5 mins and also spend little money to obtain guide Little Pink House: A True Story Of Defiance And Courage, By Jeff Benedict right here? Never allow the brand-new point goes away from you.
Suzette Kelo was just trying to rebuild her life when she purchased a falling down Victorian house perched on the waterfront in New London, CT. The house wasn't particularly fancy, but with lots of hard work Suzette was able to turn it into a home that was important to her, a home that represented her new found independence.
Little did she know that the City of New London, desperate to revive its flailing economy, wanted to raze her house and the others like it that sat along the waterfront in order to win a lucrative Pfizer pharmaceutical contract that would bring new business into the city. Kelo and fourteen neighbors flat out refused to sell, so the city decided to exercise its power of eminent domain to condemn their homes, launching one of the most extraordinary legal cases of our time, a case that ultimately reached the United States Supreme Court.
In Little Pink House, award-winning investigative journalist Jeff Benedict takes us behind the scenes of this case -- indeed, Suzette Kelo speaks for the first time about all the details of this inspirational true story as one woman led the charge to take on corporate America to save her home.
- Sales Rank: #249691 in Books
- Published on: 2009-01-26
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.02" h x 1.13" w x 5.98" l, 1.44 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 416 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Benedict (The Mormon Way of Doing Business) has taken a complicated court case centered on eminent domain and turned it into a page-turner with a conscience. In 1997, an EMT named Susette Kelo left her husband, bought a cottage and started over in the economically depressed Ft. Trumbull neighborhood of New London, Conn. In February 1998, the New London Development Corporation began trying to muscle the neighborhood into selling homes to make way for a Pfizer research complex. Benedict's passionate account is rife with heroes and villains—he delights in pillorying Kelo's foil, Claire Gaudiani, the president of Connecticut College who lured Pfizer to consider New London. The fight escalated when the city tried exercising eminent domain to seize the homes of Kelo and others who refused to sell, leading to the case, Kelo v. City of New London, reaching the Supreme Court in 2005. Raising important questions about the use of economic development as a justification for displacing citizens, this book will leave readers indignant and inspired. (Feb.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
* 'Passionate...A page-turner with conscience...will leave readers indignant and inspired. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
About the Author
Jeff Benedict is considered one of America's top investigative journalists. He has published several acclaimed books, including The Mormon Way of Doing Business, Out of Bounds, Pros and Cons and Without Reservation. His articles have been published in Sports Illustrated, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, and he has appeared on ESPN, NBC Nightly News, CBS's 60 Minutes, and ABC News.
Most helpful customer reviews
38 of 40 people found the following review helpful.
Inspirational story!
By Monie Garcia
When Susette Kelo's five boys grew up and moved out of the rural house she shared with her husband it became apparent that their marriage was no longer working. Susette made the decision to leave him and move out on her own. Having also made the decision to use no money from their joint account all Susette was able to afford was a small fixer upper on the waterfront in New London, Connecticut.
Around the same time Susette purchased her new home and began to fix it up. The New London Development Corporation was formulating a plan to re-develop the waterfront which included the Ft. Trumbull area where Susette's house was located by selling the land to the pharmaceutical company Pfizer.
When Susette and more than a few of her neighbors refused to sell, the city and the NLDC tried to take their homes using eminent domain, the law which allows the state to seize a citizen's private property for public use. What resulted was court case that made it all the way to the Supreme Court and a fight that lasted over 9 years.
Blurb: "In Little Pink House, award-winning investigative journalist Jeff Benedict takes us behind the scenes of this case -- indeed, Susette Kelo speaks for the first time about all the details of this inspirational true story as one woman led the charge to take on corporate America to save her home."
The amazing spirit of Susette Kelo and the other families that refused to leave is so moving. They refused to back down when it seemed impossible that they would ever win. I admire they way Susette showed no sign of weakness in front of the big corporation and the rest of her opposition.
The news stories about the case became national news and the Supreme Court ruling became one of the most unpopular rulings of all time. Since this case states either have or are considering amendments to the eminent domain law which prohibit the state turning over land seized under the guise of public use over to private corporations.
My review is based on the abridged audio version which was read by Maggi-Meg Reed. I think that listening to this as opposed to reading gave me a better mental picture of Susette as fighter and a strong woman to admire. I highly recommend this book to readers of all genres as it is an inspirational story.
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful.
Fabulous Read, well worth your time
By Amy D. Fairbanks
This is a fabulous book that takes you on the journey of the Ft. Trumbull neighborhood in New London, CT. You wll be outraged when you read what this neighborhood went through when put up against Eminent Domain. Its amazing to read how Susette Kelo stood up to her City, her State and the US Supreme Court, not for anything other than to hold onto the American Dream of owning and keeping her home. Its a page-turner with a conscience.
Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
An American Disconnect
By Ted Marks
This book is a case study on the disconnect between the American people and their government at both the state and federal levels. It shows that the bureaucrats in Washington and Hartford (in this instance) simply operate in a world of their own that has no connection with the reality of the life of a typical American citizen.
(Addendum to this review: In November of 2009, Pfizer announced that it was closing its New London office, thereby reinforcing the harsh criticism of the inept development planners in New London -- as well as the critics of the controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling against the local homeowners and in favor of the commercial development of New London on Pfizer's behalf. Moreover 43 states have since enacted legislation preventing the kind of eminent domain taking that is described in this book.)
The book's author, Jeff Benedict, tells the tale of a woman in New London, Connecticut and seven of her neighbors who watched in horror as their government proceeded to use eminent domain to seize their private homes and eventually bulldoze them to the ground in an effort to help the Pfizer drug company expand its research facilities in the town of 25,000 people on the Connecticut shore.
Worse, when the woman, Susette Kelo, and her supporters seek justice at the nation's highest judicial level, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the town has the right to seize private property to further commercial interests, all in the name of the "public good" - even though the commercial interests destroy lives in local neighborhoods.
The whole New London episode was, in a word, a scam against the private property rights of American citizens. In her dissenting opinion of the Supreme Court's ruling, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said:
"...the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms. As for the victims, the government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more. The Founders cannot have intended this perverse result."
"Perverse" is the operative word here. The U.S. Supreme Court essentially broadened the concept of eminent domain far beyond the narrow definition that the founding fathers used to allow governments to seize private property for the "public good." Under the new Kelo precedent, local, state and federal governments can do anything they want irregardless of the injustice they inflict on private citizens and their property.
The lead character in this book is Susette Kelo, a single woman with five children. After her marriage fails, Kelo becomes a emergency medical technician in New London and on one of her calls she sees a small house on the New London waterfront near a defunct revolutionary military facility, Fort Trumbull. Kelo is captivated by the house, eventually buys it, renovates it (she paints it pink) and makes it her castle.
But not for long, because up in the ivory tower at nearby Connecticut College, the president of the exclusive school gets it in her mind that she wants to help New London rejuvenate itself. Dr. Claire Gaudiani is a saucy, ambitious woman who likes to flaunt her feminine mystique. On the prowl for a civic role, she decides that the Fort Trumbull area of New London is the perfect place to develop in support of the Pfizer pharmaceutical company's plans to expand its research facilities. Under Gaudiani's "vision," the 90-acre parcel of land will be the site of a luxury hotel, a marina, fancy shops and upscale office and residential neighborhoods that will support Pfizer's expanded facility. The scheme is an audacious effort to attract upscale tenants that will fatten New London's tax base.
The only obstacle to the scheme is the poor neighborhood of residential homes in the Fort Trumbull area. No problem, Gaudiani concludes: just seize the homes under the eminent domain principal, and bulldoze them down to the ground.
The neighborhood, however, doesn't see eye to eye with Gaudiani and her New London Development Corporation, and their plight captures the attention of a lot of sympathetic prominent officials, including New London Mayor Lloyd Beachy. Over the course of several months, the locals also attract the attention of Scott Bullock, an attorney at the Institute of Justice in Washington, DC. The institute is a public interest organization that focuses on property rights, economic liberty, free speech and school choice, and the plight of the Fort Trumbull residents whose homes are threatened by the prospect of seizure under eminent domain proved to be an ideal issue for the institute to defend..
In this well written, well documented book, author Jeff Benedict details the eight-year confrontation between Gaudiani and the NLDC versus the local neighborhood and the Institute of Justice. Benedict's narrative captures all the flavor of the participants and the issues. (Benedict is the author of Without Reservation, a book about how Native Americans in southeast Connecticut were able to build one of the largest casinos in the world through the manipulation of willing state and federal officials in Hartford and Washington).
In Benedict's account of the New London fiasco, Kelo and her neighbors are clearly the heroic victims who stands up for their rights (which they ultimately lost). The villains are Claire Gaudiani and the NLDC, Governor John Rowland (who ended up in jail on separate corruption allegations), and the majority on the U.S. Supreme Court who affirmed New London's right to seize private property in favor of private development. But there are lots of other colorful characters, as well, who figure prominently in Benedict's narrative. Former New London Mayor Lloyd Beachy took the residents side from the beginning and almost negotiated a compromise that would avoided all the legal skirmishing.
But that didn't happen. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court, which defied all practical logic and affirmed the city's right to seize and destroy private property in its quest for more tax revenue.
Even more astonishing, however, was the public reaction after the court's ruling. Benedict tells how Kelo and her neighbors drew support from all over the country. The Institute of Justice took advantage of that reaction to conduct an educational campaign that encouraged the U.S. Congress and state legislatures to revise the law so that private property rights were even further protected. Ironically, one of the few states not to take action in that regard was Connecticut.
In the end, Kelo and her neighbors finally, and reluctantly settled their case when the state offered significant monetary settlements to move on. Kelo held out for her pink house to be moved out of the 90-acre tract and relocated nearby where it has become a symbol of the fight for property rights. She herself found a similar waterfront property across the river in Groton where she has since relocated.
And the 90-acre plot that was supposed to be developed into an upscale commercial/residential neighborhood with a marina and luxury hotel? The local homes were flattened and the 90-acres was cleared. But Benedict reports that nothing was built, and given the current economic crisis, it is likely that for all its efforts to trample over its residents and their property rights, the state and the New London Redevelopment Corporation spent more than $70 million of public money to acquire a very large vacant lot where no one is paying any taxes. Now there's a disconnect.
Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage, by Jeff Benedict PDF
Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage, by Jeff Benedict EPub
Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage, by Jeff Benedict Doc
Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage, by Jeff Benedict iBooks
Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage, by Jeff Benedict rtf
Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage, by Jeff Benedict Mobipocket
Little Pink House: A True Story of Defiance and Courage, by Jeff Benedict Kindle
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar