DPP gov't takes important step forward on land expropriation crisis

Looks like somebody forgot to tell the printer the name of the bike...

That hideous Taoyuan Aerotropolis, with its massive land thefts, is going to be slowly strangled by red tape. An apt solution....(Taipei Times)

About 30 members of the Taoyuan Aerotropolis Local Promotion Association shouted opposition to what they called opaque “black box” drafting of possible amendments to the Land Expropriation Act (土地徵收條例), saying that only people opposed to the Aerotropolis project had been invited to a ministry meeting yesterday on the amendments.

The ministry said last week that it would propose amending several laws to increase the protections for landowners and residents, including raising the support threshold for approval of “zone expropriation” to more than 90 percent of landowners.

These associations are usually astroturf for construction/development firms. The reason the threshold is being raised to 90% is simple. The usual practice is for the construction firm to have its employees purchase homes in the area. Once it has a majority of area homeowners, it can then have its own people vote to have the land expropriated and turned over to the corporation, using public law to turn private land into corporate gold. By raising the bar to 90%, the government will end this practice.

The Aerotropolis is often said to be the largest single expropriation of the democratic era, 4700 hectares of land were being appropriated, 3200 of them farmland (in a nation where the government has been worried about losing farmland). These changes are a wonderful move forward against the terrible abuse of the land laws over the last couple of decades.

Note also how these pro-corporate protests keep attempting to appropriate the language used by the Sunflowers: the government's decision is a "black box" -- which was the Sunflower criticism of the services pact (for example).

Background: this post, follow its links. Also Solidarity's post on how KMTers had purchased ponds in the Aerotropolis area to turn into gold. Recall that each pond by regulation can only have one owner, making negotiation for purchase easy. Development in Taoyuan is killing its precious ponds.
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