Written by 
This is one of the 32 homes and 8 businesses that are being taken by Renton School District. None of these were mutual agreements with “willing sellers,” in spite of the School District’s attempts to spin them that way.
[Note: For background on this topic please see my earlier posts on eminent domain here; photos in this story are from Photographer Gary Palmer]
Renton’s School Superintendent, School Board Members, and at least one Renton Council Candidate are all attempting to dismiss the degree of harm done to families near Renton High School by asserting that many of the properties acquired by the School District were “agreements” with “willing sellers.” This is a falsehood that adds insults to the life-changing injuries that the impacted families are suffering. This falsehood also reveals that those who made the decision to forcibly take these properties are unwilling to own their decision or its consequences.
To the best of my knowledge, none of the 32 homeowners or 8 businesses that are currently losing their property to the Renton High expansion were actively marketing their property for sale on October 25, 2023. That was the date that Renton School Board directed the superintendent to acquire all 40 properties, using eminent domain as necessary.
Excerpt from Resolution 02-23/24 threatening eminent domain, passed by Renton School District on October 25th, 2023
Every sale of these properties that occured after this date was by definition “under threat of eminent domain,” and not by agreement with “a willing seller.” The sellers can no longer be considered “willing” after Resolution 02-23/24 passed, since the District’s course of action compels them to sell. The School District would have had to complete the purchase before introducing the threat of eminent domain for the seller to truly be considered “willing.”
To put it bluntly, you can’t force someone to do something, and then argue that forcing them was okay because they were “willing.” Compulsion is the opposite of consent.
Courts and real estate professionals widely understand that anyone under threat of eminent domain is not a willing seller. With the threat of eminent domain looming over a property it can’t be kept or sold to to a third-party on the free market– it has to be sold to the government. The seller may ultimately agree on a price with the government to avoid incurring lawyer fees, but that does not make them a “willing seller.” It’s past time for Renton School District to figure this out.
When Renton School District infamously acquired the Houston family farm in the 1960’s and then sold it for a profit to a developer in the 1980s, they bullied George Houston (who signed with an “X” because he couldn’t read) into signing away his family farm using the threat of eminent domain. The threat of eminent domain is frequently all the government needs to compel a sale from someone who can’t afford an attorney. That is why earlier this year, at the urging of George Houston’s son John, the Washington House and the Washington Senate both unanimously voted to approve Senate Bill 5142, the Houston Eminent Domain Fairness Act; the new law attempts to protect people from being exploited the way the Houston family was by even the threat of eminent domain.
Renton School District has many injustices they need to atone for. They should begin by recognizing that compulsion to sell by threat of eminent domain is just a more quiet (and often more exploitive) form of an eminent domain taking.
And if you hear anyone say that the properties around Renton High School were sold willingly, please explain to them how they are mistaken.
One of the 32 homes being taken by Renton School District
The popular El Kiosko Restaurant is one of the eight business forced to move by Renton School District eminent domain actions
Another home taken by Renton School District
At a recent walk around Renton High School, Counselor/Author John Houston (front-center) shared the story of his parent’s farm being taken in the 1960s by Renton School District. The District used the threat of eminent domain. Mr. Houston’s engaging and enlightening book covering the impact of this loss to his family, and his personal journey to move past it, is available here.
Below the cut I have photos of several more of the 32 homes being taken by either threat of eminent domain, or contested eminent domain court actions.
Recent Comments