Use of Eminent Domain and Anaheim City Council
Amid all the hoopla about freedom, a 61-year-old Anaheim farmer killed himself rather than live to see a portion of his farmland condemned to make way for a hotel-office building-condominium project funded by developers Becker Ltd. and Alexandra Ltd., who are in Hong Kong.
To this man, Masao Fujishige, it made no difference that the Anaheim City Council condemned only 3.92 acres of his family’s 58-acre farm for access roads across his farm and into the hotel-condominium project.
What mattered to him is he did not want to give up his land, which unfortunately happens to be on Harbor Boulevard near Disneyland. He was a farmer who loved his land, and he wanted to keep it and work it.
I find it ironic that the Anaheim City Council backed the demands of a massive developer in a country halfway around the world and failed to protect and represent one of its citizens.
I weep for Masao Fujishige!
AIMEE H. ERB
Anaheim
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