Here is a satellite shot of the Fort Trumbull neighborhood in New London, CT. Google Maps says the red marker is the former site of Susette Kelo's house. The several blocks of brown to the east and north is the defunct redevelopment area. After spending something like $18 million to acquire the tract and clear it of the homes that were previously on it, the area has sat completely undeveloped.

Now according a story in the local fishwrapper, the area smells bad---literally stinks (thanks to Reason blog for the pointer).

Maybe this is because of bad publicity. That's what attorney Wes Horton, who argued the city's case before the Kelo Court, said to me when I debated him at Trinity College last fall. Perhaps, though bad publicity couldn't have been the sole factor. And that does not exonerate all the other failures of centrally planned development by way of eminent domain.

Here is Ilya Somin on the failure of Poletown:

Although GM and the City of Detroit promised that the new plant would create over 6000 jobs for the community, in reality the new plant employed less than half that many workers. By destroying hundreds of homes and numerous businesses, churches, and other institutions, the Poletown condemnations very likely inflicted more economic harm than they created benefits.

Here is Carl Close on how eminent domain destroyed the Fillmore neighborhood in San Francisco.

Here is Time on the failure of urban renewal in New Haven, CT, where it was used more aggressively than anywhere else.

Here is me on successful economic development projects without using eminent domain.

And here is the introduction chapter to my forthcoming Law Without Romance, which contains two chapters on development takings.