Abuse of Eminent Domain in Joplin

Everywhere we look here in town there seems to be construction and widening of roads. The latest construction are is between 20th St-32nd St on Connecticut. The road has been closed for 6 months or more.
They are also currently surveying the strip of East 7th St. that connects with 249. It's evident that the traffic on this road has increased significantly since the opening of 249, but it's also evident that once again the City of Joplin is exercising it's authority of flashing their rights to the private landowner.
For those of you who are unaware of what exactly eminent domain is do yourself a favor and visit the following website. This will tell you in great detail what to expect with eminent domain.
To sum it up for those who are too lazy to view this website it's the 5th Amendment that allows the government to possess private property for public use. This Amendment is exercised mostly for the widening of roads. However, in a recently article by CBS there is another growing trend.

Many gaps exist in the domain process and in some cities there are private developers that are taking full advantage. A private landowner must give up his land if a developer can prove to the city governement that by ceazing the land will cause an increase in land value and personal property taxes. To make it easy: governement will boot the currently landowner and tear down the home and let a private developer build a bigger home that will generate more revenue for the city. Sound crazy?? It happens. Take for example the story in the CBS article (this is all direct quoting, I did NOT paraphrase this:

"Jim and Joanne Saleet are refusing to sell the home they've lived in for 38 years. They live in a quiet neighborhood of single-family houses in Lakewood, Ohio, just outside Cleveland.

The City of Lakewood is trying to use eminent domain to force the Saleets out to make way for more expensive condominiums. But the Saleets are telling the town, "Hell no! They won't go."

“The bottom line is this is morally wrong, what they're doing here. This is our home. And we're going to stay here. And I'm gonna fight them tooth and nail. I've just begun to fight,” says Jim Saleet.

“We talked about this when we were dating. I used to point to the houses and say, 'Joanne, one of these days we're going to have one of these houses.' And I meant it. And I worked hard.”

Jim Saleet worked in the pharmaceutical industry, paid off his house and then retired. Now, he and his wife plan to spend the rest of their days there, and pass their house on to their children.

But Lakewood's mayor, Madeleine Cain, has other plans. She wants to tear down the Saleets' home, plus 55 homes around it, along with four apartment buildings and more than a dozen businesses. "
Is this not sickening??

This struck home for me due to the City of Joplin will be exercising its authority once again in 2 years or less as they widen the road I live on.
However, on the bright side of things, recent petitions in the state of Missouri could limit the 5th Amendment by not allowing the posession of private property for monetary gains. We shall see how that pans out.