An idea whose time should come

In an otherwise New York-centric editorial with little relevance to the rest of us, the New York Sun stumbles upon a brilliant idea that should be applied nationwide: "Reverse eminent domain." The concept is described as follows:

"It is too bad we don't have the equivalent of reverse eminent domain, under which private developers could seize government property if they could convince a court that they could put it to better public use than the government."

Too bad, indeed.

It would be a perverse yet gratifying twist on the "logic" of the Supreme Court's Kelo decision, which grants municipalities the power to use eminent domain to clear the way for private urban redevelopment projects that promise to boost local tax revenues, thus broadening the traditional definition of "public use" to include virtually any project money-grubbing city leaders approve.

Adopting "reverse eminent domain" wouldn't right the wrong legalized by Kelo. But it might help even the score.