In 2023, Macon-Bibb County demolished Eric Arnold’s house—tearing down the house that Eric was actively and carefully renovating into rubble and then carting that rubble away—with no court proceeding, no notice, and no financial compensation. That violated Eric’s constitutional rights to notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard. To vindicate those rights and others, Eric has teamed up with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to sue Macon-Bibb County in state court.
“Property rights are the bedrock of American society,” said IJ Attorney Christie Hebert. “To arbitrarily destroy Eric’s house without even the courtesy of letting him know is wrong ethically and wrong under the law.”
Yeah, the whole thing is horseshit. Especially where they sped up the process while he was trying to work with them.
My area has a similar program for dilapidated properties, but there’s a whole process where they have to first get in touch with the owner (or barring that, prove they’ve tried and failed to contact them), and there are some additional barriers as well. They don’t just show up with demo equipment.
I get that there is a need to address dangerous properties/structures for safety reasons, but what they’re doing in Macon is beyond redemption and should be scrapped and taken back to the drawing board.