We lost another good one. Jim Saleet you will be missed

[Lynn Farris]

I will miss Jim. He and his family are some of the nicest people I have ever met.

IJ posted a very nice tribute to him.

[color=darkred]Farewell, Jim Saleet

Jim Saleet, a former Institute for Justice client who led the successful fight to save his neighborhood in Lakewood, Ohio from the abuse of eminent domain for private development, died on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007. He is survived by his wife, JoAnn, and their children and grandchildren.

In 1965, Jim and JoAnn bought a home in the West End of Lakewood. There, they raised their family and quickly became fixtures in the community. In 2002, the City announced that it planned to use eminent domain to take their home, and the homes of their neighbors, so that private developers could build a shopping center. Jim refused to allow that to happen; working with IJ, he rallied his neighbors and the community to take a stand against the abuse of eminent domain for private development. Jim became a national spokesman against that abuse, appearing on 60 Minutes and other national media outlets. Ultimately, he succeeded in saving his neighborhood when Lakewood residents rejected the shopping center project and repealed the bogus "blight" designation that made the area eligible for condemnation. Even with his home safe, he continued the fight against eminent domain abuse by leading a large contingent of Lakewood residents to Columbus to rally in support of Norwood, Ohio residents who, in Norwood v. Horney, took their eminent domain fight all the way to the Ohio Supreme Courtâ€â€