Confiscating a neighborhood for profit

The question of whose rights take precedence in the matter of the proposed ethanol plant for Newark is the thing that nags me and keeps me interested.

I live a few miles away from the site and I might not be able to care less if it weren't for the fact that people living near the factory site are going to get shafted if the city and the developers go ahead with this thing because, simply put, they don't want the potential danger and nuisance. And even if there weren't that potential, if the people there don't want it, that should be the overriding consideration for government. It is not. What government seems most concerned about are bucks and the feel-good goose they get from hatching a new factory.

So Newark has a classic standoff between citizens and the government-business complex. On one side are people who want to be left alone and on the other side are people in government (namely the city government) and developers (mostly a billionaire from India) who want more money and are willing to confiscate neighborhoods and change lives in order to get it.

Recently a representative from something called "Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund" met with Newark residents about their options. It offers a grassroots litigation support program and that seems to be what it's going to take to stop this government-business steamroller, if anything can.

This Tea Party is about the rights of citizens versus government nannies who point and shoot at the command of political donors, so stay tuned.