Eminent doughmain...

Residents who vowed bitter fight opt for sweet taste of big money --WND

Again, capitalism trumps fascism. I don't get WND's tone in this article. The little guys win when the big guys pay through the nose.

Despite homeowners' vows on national television that they would fight to remain in their dwelling places, many residents of Riviera Beach, Fla., are finally giving in, not to eminent domain of the local government, but to eminent "doughmain" of wealthy developers.

Huge sums of money are being offered to citizens in the coastal town in Palm Beach County, with a sky's-the-limit mentality changing the minds of many prepared to go the distance in their battle to stay put.

Fox News recently broadcast an edition of "Hannity & Colmes" from Riviera Beach, with the theme "It Could Happen to You," referring to the city government's plan to seize the property of as many as 6,000 residents for a $2.4 billion waterfront-redevelopment program.

Martha Babson was among the critics in the television spotlight, but she is closing on a deal to sell her house tomorrow. She has been offered more than three times the appraised value of her $202,454 home by the son of Miami Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga.

"The new boy in town is Wayne Huizenga [Jr.], and he's coming through with practically a blank check book," Babson told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. "They bought the entire street and they bought the street north of me. ... They are out all day making people offers. They are paying money nobody ever expected to see."

Babson's specific deal allows her to stay one more year in her house for free, before she moves to Gainesville, Fla., where she plans on working as a massage therapist.

"I can buy a house without a mortgage. I can have a car without a car payment," she told the Palm Beach Post. "I'm so relieved."

Her neighbor, Jacquie Loriol, said she and her husband decided to sell, even as a sign calling for the end of eminent domain abuse stood in her front yard.

"It's pretty hard to say no at this point," she told the Sun-Sentinel.

The flurry of sales is pleasing to city officials, who now won't need to use their powers of eminent domain to take the property and relocate the residents who sell.