The U.S. Supreme Court in 2005 found no limit in the Constitution on how governments could define public use for eminent domain.
In 2009, voters amended the Texas Constitution to state “public use does not include the taking of property … for transfer to a private entity for the primary purpose of economic development or enhancement of tax revenues.”
The recently purchased federal land on Cesar Chavez Boulevard by the city of San Antonio was chiefly private property condemned and taken by the city for construction of the HemisFair ’68 U.S. Pavilion.
After 60 years of public use, the city plans to transfer this public land by lease to Spurs Sports & Entertainment for private development to enhance tax revenue to pay for the arena.
A generational project should not be built on legal technicalities of when the land was taken. Our elected officials should ensure a constitutionally defined public use for this land.
I am not an immigrant, but I am mad as hell that a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent killed a man in its pursuit of people accused of being in the country illegally.
Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was not the person ICE agents were seeking.
Why should those agents worry about this incident? They killed two white people in Minneapolis and nothing has happened.
When he was campaigning in 2024, President Donald Trump claimed he was going to go after “criminal aliens.” I did not believe that for a moment.
Other states have adopted legislation banning ICE agents from operating in masks and requiring them to use body cameras. That’s not the case in Texas. The agent who killed Salgado was wearing a mask and did not wear a body camera. The vehicles were unmarked.
When will this senseless slaughter end?
I urge everyone to vote in November, and we all speak with one voice: This ends now.
It is helpful amid our political morose to understand one new reality.
There is no longer a Republican Party in the U.S.
There is now a Democratic Party and a Trump Party.
Understanding that will help us move forward with our political discussions and conclusions.
Richard Buhl, New Braunfels