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…at least that’s what an e-mailer was asking me this morning.

I was starting to rely on you for coverage. I haven’t seen anything in the paper or on the news and at least could get some idea of what was going on from you. What happened to your eminent domain coverage?

Good question. To be honest, I’ve been too busy to spend much time on the case. It’s been over a week since I’ve been able to get to court, and the last time I was there, the fishwrap had it’s regular reporter Tom Breckenridge and a member of the editorial board in attendance. I assumed that meant that they were beefing up their coverage, but that looks to be wrong. Apparently no one was in attendance for most of last week’s testimony from landowner Tony George, and the report I got from a court insider this morning is that nobody is there today.

Add to this the significance of this case as it relates to what’s going on in Columbus with new legislation regarding eminent domain and you would think someone would pay more attention (though Crain’s has two pieces in this week’s issue that show very peripheral interest).

I can’t begin to try and explain how important this case is to the legal future of development in this community. The reason that it has not been settled has more to do with political maneuverings (friends of the politicians stand to gain) and establishing precedent (the Port Authority wants to continue to be able to use this hammer in its bag of tricks) than it does with actually moving forward on the project.

The landowners got screwed and now that Wolstein has been able to get to the courthouse, he refuses to pay the owners what he originally agreed to pay to buy them out.

Thanks for the email and I’ll do my best to keep you informed.