Eminent Domain in Disguise: Putting An End to Charlestown, Indiana's "Home Inspection" Scam

"Charlestown Mayor Bob Hall has turned the city’s once-benign housing maintenance code into a bludgeon. City inspectors have begun issuing crippling fines for property-code violations—including even trivial ones such as a torn screen, chipped paint or a downed tree limb. The fines accumulate at a rate of at least $50 per day, per violation, quickly leaving homeowners with thousands of dollars in fines and no way to pay." Then the bulldozers come.