The ungrateful dead

City planners and public works directors are correcting the effects of opportunistic land developers of the 1950s. In Calvert County, Maryland, planners are struggling with subdivisions approved before public facilities were required. In Cape Coral, Florida most of the city fell into one subdivision owned by a New York real estate company. In 1994, the city began a $100 million project to hook up sewer and water systems. Property owners were assessed $10 thousand per lot, twice the value of most of the lots. Many owners simply abandoned their property rather than pay. In Rio Rancho, New Mexico, the city used the power of eminent domain to acquire an entire subdivision, then sell it to developers.