$100 MILLION FOR A MINOR LEAGUE BALLPARK?!(POLICY)

• Author: Boehm, Eric

TO CLEAR SPACE for a new minor league baseball stadium, the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, is using eminent domain to condemn and seize two successful businesses. City officials then plan to put Worcester's remaining taxpayers on the hook for more than $100 million to build the ballpark and do some adjacent redevelopment. It's hard to say which part of the plan is worse: stealing private land or wasting public dollars.

Worcester initially tried to buy out the owners of an auto glass repair shop and a cannabidiol retailer, but the businesses turned down offers of $310,000 and $265,000 respectively, according to court documents. When the property holders refused, Worcester officials resorted to eminent domain to get their way.

The city council approved the takings in April--booting out the businesses despite their owners' objections--and a groundbreaking for the city-owned stadium project went ahead in July. But the eminent domain effort could take months to finalize in court--and that could force the city to delay the opening of the new stadium, planned for spring 2021.

The ballpark will be the new home for the Boston Red Sox's top minor league affiliate. The team is relocating from Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where it has played since 1970, after spurning an offer from Rhode Island officials to use a measly $38 million in public funds to upgrade the 76-year-old stadium where the team currently...