As The Gateway Pundit reported earlier an absolute disgrace is unfolding in downtown Phoenix, Arizona, where a massive, government-backed university is using the heavy hand of the state to trample on the private property rights of an elderly American citizen.
Arizona State University and the Arizona Board of Regents have filed a condemnation lawsuit seeking to use eminent domain to forcibly take a 124-year-old historic home from its 89-year-old owner who has lived there and protected it for more than 50 years.
Eminent domain is the government’s “legal right” to seize private property for public use, provided the owner is paid “just compensation” (fair market value).
Robert Young, an 89-year-old former criminal defense attorney and real estate agent, has owned the Louis Emerson House in Phoenix’s Evans-Churchill neighborhood since 1975, according to Phoenix New Times.
Built in 1902, years before Arizona became a state, the Queen Anne-style Victorian home is one of the last surviving pre-statehood single-family residences in the area.
It sits on the Phoenix Historic Property Register and represents real craftsmanship from a bygone era when Phoenix was still a young territory town.
ASU wants the land — and plans to raze the home — to complete its sprawling new downtown health campus and medical school complex.
The $200 million project includes a five-story, 170,000-square-foot facility for the John Shufeldt School of Medicine and Medical Engineering, with groundbreaking already held in April. The university claims it needs “immediate possession.”
They made offers. Young said no. Now they’re trying to take it by force.
Following our report Captain Kuehne interviewed the Hip Historian this past week.
Captain Chris Kuehne went to the Emerson House and interviewed a local historian on the importance of the historic home to the City of Phoenix. For over a century the house has had a presence in downtown Phoenix.
The Hip Historian told Chris that the home is irreplaceable.
Captain Kuehne also took a tour of the home last week.
https://rumble.com/shorts/v7b9crm
Jim Hoft is the founder and editor of The Gateway Pundit, one of the top conservative news outlets in America. Jim was awarded the Reed Irvine Accuracy in Media Award in 2013 and is the proud recipient of the Breitbart Award for Excellence in Online Journalism from the Americans for Prosperity Foundation in May 2016. In 2023, The Gateway Pundit received the Most Trusted Print Media Award at the American Liberty Awards.
You can email Jim Hoft here, and read more of Jim Hoft’s articles here.
Ad block users: Some site features may not work correctly while an ad blocker is enabled, because they break scripts and content this website depends on. If you can’t see comments below, for example, please disable your ad blocker.
