Hands Off My Land
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We give the government power to take our land… but only when they really need it.
That’s why we’re calling out the little town of Morgan’s Point where the city council is suing a grieving widow because she wants them to KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF HER LAND!
“The deal that really, really gets under my craw is the fact that we’re using eminent domain to take a lady’s property.”
“We’ve owned this property for 27 years.”
“I think this is a moral issue.”
“Just do the right thing!”
This famous patriotic song celebrates the vast landscapes of the USA.
But that doesn’t mean my land is the government’s to steal.
And the politicians should only force you to sell your land to the government if it’s really necessary.
That’s why we are in Morgan’s Point, population 350. Just 1,600 acres south of the Port of Houston.
This is where city hall is trying to take Jennie Randolph’s land for a parking lot.
“We just had no idea that they were going to do this.”
Jennie May Cayton met her husband John at an FFA fair 61 years ago.
Jennie says John saw her on a Ferris wheel and told himself, I’ve got to meet that girl. They married that same year.
“My dad was a caretaker. He took care of his family.”
John Randolph Sr. was a longshoreman at the port. And john made sure he planned for their future.
“He owned several pieces of property here that he invested in.”
“All this was supposed to be to take care of my mom when he was gone.”
We are standing on the last of Randolph’s property in Morgan’s Point.
A quarter of an acre on Jamison Street that includes a 3,150 square foot storage building.
John Jr. is the oldest of three sons.
“When he was getting sick and he was getting to the end of his life, he made sure that we were going to watch out for what was best for mom.”
John Sr. died in June of 2022. And right in her greatest grief, that’s when the city made its move.
“Just as soon as he passed, within a month’s time, Brian schneider, the city planner, started calling me and asking me, ‘what do we plan to do with this land?’”
Jennie simply planned to keep it, and she didn’t know that just two months before her husband died, morgan’s point had bought the property next door.
“I didn’t know they had a plan. Nobody knows what it actually is. But being as my dad was passed, that was the triggering factor.”
The city’s lot is half an acre here at the corner of Jamison and E. Barbours Cut Blvd.
It includes a 5,700 square foot building, built in 1999, that Morgan’s Point plans to renovate into a police station and museum.
Morgan’s Point then sent Jennie this letter.
“That was in February of this year. It was the initial offer. It was 116,000 or something to buy me out. And I did not respond because, there wasn’t anything to respond to. I didn’t want to sell it.”
Then in June, the city of Morgan’s Point sued Jennie to condemn the land and take it citing eminent domain.
According to the lawsuit, her land is “necessary for the construction, operation and maintenance of a police department parking lot.”
Richard Young, Morgan’s Point’s newest city council man is appalled they did it.
“The city doesn’t need the property that they want to take from the Randolph’s, because they own property directly across the street.”
Just how many cop cars does this little town even have?
“We’ll be parking at least six vehicles and then a couple more. So, I think we’re looking at, I want to say was nine was it?”
Morgan’s Point might have a hard time proving in court they absolutely positively can’t run a cop shop without Jennie’s land.
But look. The city already has 29 parking spaces on the half-acre lot they own where they are planning to put the police department.
The city also owns this half-acre property and it’s vacant.
“I’m kicking up a fuss about this because I don’t think it’s a legal issue as much as it is a moral issue.”
“We’re not arguing about politics here. We’re talking about a sense of a deal that’s immoral for the city to try to seize somebody’s property for some unknown reason.”
“I want your justification for taking this person’s property.”
“I don’t have one for you right now.”
Mayor Tim Harris refers us to the city’s statement posted online, which basically said no one lives on the property and it’s only got a storage building on it. And besides, Jennie isn’t even a Morgan’s Point resident.
But so what? She owns property there.
And wait till you see what happened the last time the Morgan’s Point city council had a meeting.
“I think the choice with the eminent domain lawsuit is a poor choice.”
“That’s bad to take people’s property, that it’s just one of the few things left in a democracy that we have that you can’t have come take my property because you think it’s better repurposed to something that you like.”
“I think the eminent domain situation right now just amounts to bullying as I see it. I think, you know, it’s not necessary. She doesn’t want to sell. Let it go.”
The one resident who does think taking Jennie’s land is a good idea is Craig Holland, the husband of city councilwoman Shari Holland.
He spoke up at a city council meeting in June.
“I think they go ahead with eminent domain on that property. And I’m sure the grieving widow will take the money and run.”
The grieving widow. What a guy.
“And I thought that was very ugly. And I basically stood up and told him, ‘Hey, you’re talking about my mother.’”
“I am not interested in talking to you.”
“Well, in June, you had some kind of rude things to say about the woman whose property [is being taken]. Yes, you did. I heard her it.”
“I’m not interested in talking to you. Chief? She’s hassling me.”
The eminent domain lawsuit opened up a can of worms for the elected officials of Morgan’s Point, like the location of the police station.
“Not only are there acceptable alternatives, but there’s one obvious alternative that better serves the residents of Morgan’s Point than the choice that’s been made.”
Amy Bean, who lost the recent mayoral race by just a few votes, believes the town would rather see a police station here just as you enter town on E. Barbours Cut Blvd.
“It would be a great place for a police station because people are going to drive right by it.”
Turns out the records reveal building a brand-new police headquarters here would save the town nearly $300,000, and they already own this land.
What’s going on? These folks have something else in mind for this property. A $1.2-million court for pickleball.
“Pickleball? I don’t know anybody that plays pickleball in the city.”
“Our world is imploding, and you want to do pickleball and take somebody’s land?”
“I haven’t heard from any one person that wants a pickleball court here.”
Mayor Harris told residents the pickleball court had been in the works for a year.
And he was told city council ignored opposition to it back then too.
“It seems like the public doesn’t think the council is acting in its behalf. Okay. That’s it.”
Ahh… nothing like a little government land confiscation to wake up your constituents.
“All of us are property owners. Which one of us is next? It’s open season now.”
And Dolcefino Media reporter Andrea Palacio had seen enough.
“Are you going to go ahead with it, even though people don’t want you to do it?”
“There’s a council that approves that, ma’am.”
“Yeah, but you can undo it. It’s a lawsuit. All you have to do, sir, is withdraw the lawsuit.”
“I have no comment. Thank you.”
But the angry response from the people who elected them might have changed at least one mind, city councilman Bob DeLeon.
“Do you agree with them?”
“Yes, I agree with them. Okay.”
“You have another place to put the police cars.”
God does listen. Let’s see if Morgan’s Point city council will.
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