FSP Recruits Displaced New London Residents

For Immediate Release
November 2, 2004

SUBJECT: Free State Project Recruits Displaced New London Residents

Contact: Amanda Phillips, President
Email: aphillips@freestateproject.org
Phone: 617-763-1996
Website: www.freestateproject.org

Recently, the city government of New London, Conn. condemned most of its Fort Trumbull neighborhood in order to give the property to a private developer. The case has generated a lawsuit and national media coverage.

The Free State Project (FSP), which is recruiting advocates of property rights, free markets, and civil liberties to move to New Hampshire, saw an opportunity.

"New London residents displaced by this abuse of eminent domain power likely appreciate the value of private property rights more than most Americans. They're also now looking for a place to live," explained FSP founder Jason Sorens, who lives in New Haven, Conn. "We'd like to let them know that this event could never happen in New Hampshire; the state supreme court has ruled that private property may never be taken for mere 'economic development' reasons."

Pat McCotter, another Connecticut Free Stater, took a fact-finding tour of the Fort Trumbull neighborhood. "More people than you might realize have been affected by the city government's action," he noted. "Not only were property owners dispossessed, but people who'd leased property and run businesses on that property for many years have also been kicked out."

The FSP is running a month-long ad on the New London Day's website in order to increase the visibility of the Project among local residents. This ad follows other successful "shadow ads" that the group has run in South Carolina and Vermont, generating significant national attention for the Project.

The Free State Project, founded in September 2001, chose New Hampshire as its destination in October 2003 through a vote of signed-up participants. Currently, over 6,100 people have committed to move to New Hampshire within the next several years, and over 50 people have already moved.