[BR Today]

Are you kidding? In Livingston parish, people would sell their family cemetery if they thought they could develop a subdivision and get rich. You are assuming that no one is ever interested in selling land, but by your own statement you would be interested. People would often gladly sell, and even bid lower against neighbors if government expressed an interest in their land. And, your comment that government takings "happen every day" is meaningless; murder happens every day, but that doesn't make it right.

Murder is illegal. The growth of a capital city and the trials and tribulations that go along with it, is not. Certainly you aren't comparing apples and oranges, are you? Again, the government doesn't take anything. They pay fair market value along with all relocation expenses (in most cases) for those displaced by growth. Don't make this look like Hitler is marching through the proposed loop route and throwing innocent citizens out in the street. On your way to work tomorrow, try and count how many different people have sold their land to the city to make the road you're travelling down. Do you use the interstate at all? If so, why? That road was put there to make it easier to get from O'Neal lane to downtown Baton Rouge instead of using Florida Blvd. Weren't there some people displaced when it was built? Does it make you a hypocrite for using the interstate? Not at all, its an expedited route built to suit the needs of a growing city. Like I said, it happens somewhere every day and will continue to do so to keep up with urban and suburban growth. Check out the Central Thruway project. Won't it be nice to be at the interstate in 10 minutes now instead of the usual 25? Is anyone crying over that issue? I haven't heard anything except "please hurry and get this project done to benefit the city of central".