Detroit went through this years ago. Way back in 1981. I remember one of my neighbors was a dedicated protester for the cause. 4200 people lost their homes in Poletown. The plan?
In 1981, General Motors and the cities of Detroit and Hamtramck collaborated in a grand plan to bring industry back to what was perceived as a dying city, to add to the two cities' tax coffers and to keep the automotive business centered in Detroit
Homes, businesses, churches, and a hospital were all in the way. In the end, Colman Young and GM won out, and the residential neighborhood was replaced by an industrial landscape. Some say the Poletown incident set the precedent for imminent domain abuses to spread across the country. In 2004, more than 20 years after the destruction of Poletown, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled the seizure of the land unlawful.
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