Property Rights

Say you own a piece of property. It's zoned for residential development. It's vacant. It has access to city water and sewer systems. It's even located on a major artery, near an interstate highway, and in an area known as "downtown." The city fire department has approved a development. You could build some moderately priced condominiums, make a few bucks, and nobody would object, right? Wrong:

The Virginia Beach Professional Firefighters union hopes to persuade the City Council tonight to reject a proposed housing development that would add up to 846 townhouses and apartments.

William P. Bailey Sr., the union president, said approving the high-density project would be too risky until the city adds more firefighters.

Yup, the union thinks your ability to improve your property should be contingent upon increases in their union membership. The article goes on to point out they probably won't succeed in stopping the development, but the idea that this even occurs to them is startling.