United States v. Certain Lands in City of Detroit, 13842.

• Decision Date: 23 October 1935
• Docket Number: No. 13842.,13842.
• Citation: 12 F. Supp. 345
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. CERTAIN LANDS IN CITY OF DETROIT et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of Michigan

12 F. Supp. 345

UNITED STATES v. CERTAIN LANDS IN CITY OF DETROIT et al.

No. 13842.

District Court, E. D. Michigan, S. D. at Law.

October 23, 1935.

Gregory H. Frederick, U. S. Dist. Atty., and Dean Lucking, Sp. Atty., both of Detroit, Mich. (Waldo K. Greiner, of Detroit, Mich., of counsel), for petitioner.

Leslie T. Jones, of Detroit, Mich., for respondent Clarke.

TUTTLE, District Judge.

This is a petition filed herein by the United States for the condemnation, under the power of eminent domain, of certain parcels of land in the city of Detroit, in this district, pursuant to the following determination and request of the United States Federal Emergency Administrator of Public Works, as shown by said petition:

"Pursuant to the authority contained in the National Industrial Recovery Act of June 16, 1933, under the direction of the President, I have prepared a comprehensive program of public works and have included therein a low-cost housing and slum-clearance project in Detroit, Michigan, known as the East Side Project, being Project No. 1201 of the Housing Division of the Public Works Administration. A tract of land in the City of Detroit shown on the plat of survey prepared by Warner & Warner, Civil Engineers, has been selected as the site for this project, which site includes 378 separate parcels of land and a number of contiguous city blocks.

"I have determined that it is necessary and advantageous to the interests of the United States that condemnation proceedings be instituted for all of the land included in the aforesaid site. Therefore, I respectfully request that you cause the necessary proceedings in condemnation to be instituted for the acquisition of said land, together with all improvements thereon and all leaseholds and other interests therein."

The cause is now before the court on a motion by one of the respondents, George W. Clarke, to dismiss the petition, on the ground that this proceeding is an attempt by the petitioner, the United States, to take private property for a purpose for which it has no constitutional authority to exercise the power of eminent domain. Whether the petitioner has that authority is the ultimate question now presented for decision.

The petition, the factual allegations of which must, of course, in the consideration of this motion to dismiss, be accepted as true, after referring to the aforesaid determination and request of the Federal Emergency Administrator, and to the Act of Congress and the project therein mentioned, states the purpose, for which these lands are here sought to be taken, and the reasons prompting such proposed taking, as follows:

"That the United States of America, acting through said Administrator, in pursuance of the provisions of the aforesaid Act of June 16, 1933 48 Stat. 195 proposes to construct, reconstruct, alter, or repair under public regulation or control, on the lands herein mentioned, the aforesaid low-cost housing and slum-clearance project, which lands are needed for such public use, improvement and purposes.

"That the said lands herein mentioned constitute a slum in a part of a blighted residential area of the City of Detroit, wherein the housing conditions are detrimental to the public peace, health, safety, morals and welfare. That nearly all of the housing structures on the said lands herein sought to be acquired are old and dilapidated, a large proportion thereof being without sanitary plumbing and more than half of said structures being unfit for human habitation without extensive and costly repairs, as is disclosed by surveys of said area made by officials of the City of Detroit. That an excessive amount of tuberculosis and pneumonia has existed in said area, the rate thereof as shown by public health surveys being many times that of the City in general, which diseases are closely and directly related in the frequency of their occurrence to poor housing conditions, such housing conditions thereby presenting to the City of Detroit a potential health hazard of a major character. That an unusually high rate of crime and juvenile delinquency exists in said area, such rate being several times that of the City at large. That the tax delinquency with respect to said lands is approximately 92% as contrasted to a rate of approximately 22% in the City at large. That very few occupants of said...