[quizme2000]

The 2 things that will make your blood boil is when the city counsel couldn't get some residents to sell their property b/c they had nowhere to go, they declared it blighted/contaminated and forced eviction into actual blighted homes.

The second is the town took on a massive loan to buy all the land it needed, it will now default. The state of WI backed the town in the loan and will now have to pay out for this nonsense.

[mikeryan]

This is an inherent problem with city governments. I don’t know how rural Wisconsin city councils work but I know for damn sure Berkeley’s city council would be completely out of their depth negotiating a multi billion dollar deal with the likes of a Foxconn.

[dragontamer]

It wasn't a rural city council that made this deal. It was Gov. Scott Walker. The executive for the entire state.

[dsfyu404ed]

>The 2 things that will make your blood boil is when the city counsel couldn't get some residents to sell their property b/c they had nowhere to go, they declared it blighted/contaminated and forced eviction into actual blighted homes.

Not that it makes it less terrible but backhanded stuff like this is not uncommon at all. If you run a business in my state you basically give up your right to stand up to the state/local government about anything (because they will use its power of discretionary enforcement to destroy your business).

If you're in the right you can win the head on fight (well, win it 10yr later in court, if that counts) but the government will always out flank you if they want something done but you are in their way. Sucks but it's reality.

[magduf]

These Wisconsin residents are getting the government they voted for.

[npongratz]

49% are not getting the government they voted for.

And it might be more: the number of [Voted For Something Else] + [Didn't Vote] + [Not Eligible To Vote] is probably far greater than 49% of all residents.

[tenpies]

Alternative thought: this is the way China does business, full stop. Who exactly was in council at the time would not have mattered because the media headline "Council torpedos Foxconn factory deal that would have created X thousand jobs" is about as bad as what happened.

[bduerst]

I don't think so. Mount Pleasant wasn't the only city being considered, and it was all behind closed doors until it was a sure deal. We don't hear about the headlines for the cities that were passed over in this instance.

[bluGill]

Those who didn't vote cannot be counted - they have decided that they don't care one way or the other. Likewise those who are not eligible cannot be counted - they cannot vote because their voice is being intentionally ignored as not relevant (it is fair to argue they shouldn't be excluded but that is a different issue).

[magduf]

>it is fair to argue they shouldn't be excluded but that is a different issue

It is, but for many of them they really should be excluded. How exactly is a 2-year-old going to make an informed vote, after all? How is an infant going to even fill out the ballot?

I would argue, however, that prisoners should be able to vote.

[magduf]

Just a note about prisoners voting, in case anyone has any negative opinions on that:

If you have so many prisoners in your society that it's substantially affecting the outcome of an election, then your society has a real problem, and it's not the prisoners.

[magduf]

That's the nature of living in a democracy. What's your alternative?

[dabockster]

> they declared it blighted/contaminated

Wtf? They could have just used eminent domain. Probably wouldn't have had to pay as much too.

[mikeryan]

Declaring a region blighted is a method for triggering eminent domain.

https://nextcity.org/daily/entry/eminent-domain-can-we-defin...