Dear Editor:
In her open letter of June 10th defending the use of eminent domain as a negotiating tool in the acquisition of Southwest Park, Mayor Zimmer draws a false equivalency between negotiations in the public and private sectors: “Any experienced negotiator understands that the use of leverage is always a part of the negotiating process.” Maybe so, but outside of government and organized crime, ‘leverage’ does not include one party forcing the other to accept its terms. The legal use of force as a ‘negotiating tool’ is available only to governments. Regardless of whether we think its use is justified in this case, let’s not coddle our consciences with euphemisms. Eminent domain is simply the government making private citizens an offer they can’t refuse.
Ted Dougherty