The ethics of eminent domain

Re “Bit of Old Hollywood Imperiled,” March 3

When used to replace a damaged building that is a safety hazard with a space that is beneficial to the entire community, I doubt anyone would criticize local government for invoking eminent domain.

But invoking eminent domain to raise property values and profit margins at the expense of members of the community is counter to the widely accepted American ideal of freedom.

Ethics are at the core of this dilemma in Hollywood and elsewhere. What is inherently right and patently wrong seems to have little bearing on contemporary public decision-making. The character of so many of our public service leaders seems bereft of virtue. Eroded by ambivalence at best, complicit in obvious displays of avarice and apparent evidence of vice at worst, our leaders’ sense of ethical behavior is rarely evident.

What is happening in Hollywood is evidence of a larger problem: an emerging new American ideal that will be at the core of our undoing.

MICHAEL DAVIES

San Juan Capistrano