Should the City Council grant Eminent Domain to Galesburg Public Library to acquire six parcels of land for the planned new library site?

In this situation I feel the issue of Eminent Doman gives more than it takes.  In our continuing efforts to beautify Galesburg, demolishing several dilapidated properties and building a beautiful, 21st century library will serve our public good with a community-space for all ages, far more than keeping those degraded properties on the Main thoroughfare would.   The Don Moffitt overpass on W. Main St was a wonderful improvement, as was the E. Main St underpass and the Kellogg/Seminary St overpass.  The property owners would assumably receive assessed value plus ten percent, giving them a fair value, and the library project would not be unnecessarily held-up further due to greed or animus.  The project already in the planning since 2012, will likely receive the state funding from Illinois’ 2019 Capital Infrastructure Bill; funding would not be forthcoming until late 2020, and the properties need to be razed, for the development to begin in earnest for ‘Our Town’.

Trish Forsyth Voss