Nearly 17 years ago, I penned a feature column for The Orange County Register about Santa Ana, Calif.'s "Renaissance Plan," which was a city idea to drive out nearly 130-plus commercial and industrial businesses and replace them with a high-rise transit-oriented district featuring condos and apartments. The plan also called for revamping downtown. It was typical of the kind of projects that "urbanists" were pushing nationwide.
I'm all for high rises, housing construction and downtown improvements—but not in a manner that obliterates people's property rights in the process. As I wrote, "I'd call it the 'Forced Gentrification Plan' or 'Send Good-Paying Industrial Jobs to Rialto Plan,' or as one person said sardonically, 'Remove the Poor Mexicans from Downtown Santa Ana Plan.'" I encouraged the public to express outrage.
