-An entire community has been torn from its roots for a wealthy developer's private profit.
Lives have been destroyed for a project that may ultimately fail.
-This is what happens when eminent domain is abused for private gain.
The Gardens was home to more than a thousand residents in the southern New Jersey township
of Mount Holly.
Since it was built in the 1950's it has attracted hard-working first-time homeowners.
-I've lived here when my son was in 3rd grade,
and now he's a grandfather
so approximately 36 years ago.
-My parents came from Puerto Rico, I grew up in New York
but I chose Mount Holly to be my home,
and I've been here for 24 years. -It was affordable
so I moved here, I rented for 1 year and have owned my home for
19 years
-It was a close and vibrant community where neighbors took care of one another and watched
over each other's children.
-We use to play football out in the front,
in the street,
and all the kids would come out.
Everybody's kids would be there and they knew they were with Mr. Cruz
so they didn't mind. -My kids used to leave their bikes outside,
not tied down or nothing, no chains.
I used to sleep with my door open. Everybody knew
just come in to Ms. Nancy's house -We had talent shows with our kids.
We had
just about everything you could
think of that made it nice for the children.
But the township had other plans for the gardens.
10 years ago officials decided to clear out the three hundred garden style row homes so Keating,
a Philadelphia developer, could build luxury apartments and townhouses.
-They mentioned in the newspaper
that the town was going to
use eminent domain
to take
the homes,
and then when we went to the township meetings,
they denied that they ever said it.
But fortunately one of the ladies had the copy of it
and then they said we're not discussing that now.
-If this was a school or
maybe a road, I can understand-okay, well I can't live in the middle of the
road,
but they're building homes here.
So why can't we be part of this new neighborhood that they're gonna redevelop?
-The township began dismantling the neighborhood,
buying up homes using the threat of eminent domain and either boring them up or tearing
them down,
even while connected to occupied homes.
Santos witnessed the township's reckless demolitions first-hand.
-When they started demolishing homes
they never took into account, made no plans, that there was adjacent homes there.
They just went in with the bulldozer destroying properties,
hitting them,
and then not taking responsibility.
They hit my home, they damaged my property and then
claimed
not to have done it.
Gardens residents have been living in an urban renewal war zone.
-I'm afraid to even stay here by myself when my kids go out, and they're grown-they can't
be with me 24/7. -3 days before Christmas the remaining
homeowners were told they had to accept the township's final offers for their homes
or have them taken away. -When I saw the envelope,
I didn't want to open it
because I knew what it was.
It was something bad. It was from the Mally Group,
and my heart just sank.
And I had just bought the Christmas tree, and it was standing there, so when I came
home from work we could decorate it.
And my whole world just shattered, and, you know, I started crying and my kids said,
"Don't worry mom, everything's gonna be OK. You know, we're going to decorate it,
and we're not gonna let them ruin our Christmas.
-The mayor claims he's destroying the Gardens
for the betterment of the community.
But now it looks like this project may result in the loss of a million dollars a year.
That's ten percent of the township's budget. -The whole township
is gonna suffer
for these
uncontrolled ideas of grandeur. -They did not
consult with us or talk with us.
If they came and said, "well we want to do this" and so
and sat down and talk together we could have worked out something without all this hassle.
-All the remaining homeowners want
is to stay in their community.
-When I bought the house
I thought I'd be here
the rest of my days.
-My children are here,
my roots are here, my grandkids live around the neighborhood.
I don't want to go nowhere.
I want to stay in Mount Holly.
-But the township refuses to offer them replacement housing in the new development
and is offering them less than half of how much would cost to buy a smaller version of
their homes just a few blocks away.
-Why, if they're
doubling the amount of units that they're gonna make here that were pre-existing,
why can't we get a home there?
Why can't they make room for us
and keep our community together?
The Gardens homeowners have worked hard their entire lives to earn their homes.
-I've had 2 jobs. Sometimes I've had one job and school at one time, and my children
also,
and they're home owners, and they got that from me. We're
working people
who know the value of what's important,
home,
good family,
good values,
they've learned that from me.
-This abuse is emblematic of New Jersey's eminent domain law,
which is in desperate need of reform. The Institute for Justice has worked with homeowners to
raise awareness about this land grab,
but the township isn't listening.
-When the government
succumbs to this,
we got nowhere to go but down.
-The Gardens homeowners need your help.
Please visit ij.org/mountholly to learn what you can do. -I know that I'm
fighting for other people
that might go through this
and then
they might have a better chance of saving their home