DALLAS -- Down a dead-end street in South Dallas sits the house and land of Freddie Baker and her children.
The Bakers have been here for six decades.
For them, it’s an inner-city paradise where they keep horses -- a paradise they say City Hall is coming to take away from them.
The city is offering them $22,500 for the land beside her tiny frame house. The city wants the land and other nearby parcels for a massive drainage tunnel project that’s in the works.
“My house is paid for -- been paid for,” said Freddie Baker, 86. “They’ve got to give me enough money to pay for whatever I want, and I’ve got to live better than I’m living. I ain’t giving away nothing.”
The conflict between the Bakers and City Hall is a classic battle over the city’s right to take property through the power of eminent domain vs. a person’s property rights.
It’s a battle Goliath usually wins.
The city’s position is that they cannot pay more than fair market value for the properties. They say if they tried to do so, the Texas Constitution would prohibit it, because it would be considered a gift.
The Bakers hardly see compensating them so they can buy something comparable as a gift.
“It affects the whole community,” said her son, Michael Baker. “If you do us wrong, we know you’re going to do everybody else around here wrong.”
Last month, the city council was scheduled to vote on authorizing the city attorney’s office to file eminent domain lawsuits against Baker and other property owners if they didn’t agree to the price the city was offering. Freddie Baker was there to plead her case before the council.
Her pleas did not fall on the deaf ears. The Dallas City Council decided to put off those votes in order to consider a proposal by Council member Scott Griggs to change how the city goes about taking someone’s property.
City Council members are set to be briefed on the city’s eminent domain process Wednesday.
Griggs has consistently voted against giving authorization to file eminent domain lawsuits because he disagreed with how the process works. As it currently stands, city staffers ask the council to authorize negotiations on the property, as well as giving the city attorney’s office the authorization to file eminent domain lawsuits.
“We create such leverage for the city,” Griggs told fellow Council members last month. “This is a taking by the government. And I do not believe we should authorize eminent domain for the negotiations.”
The Bakers first got word in a registered letter dated February 2 that the city wanted to acquire the land. The letter notified them that the city wanted the land for the drainage project.
The letter notified that the total sum of compensation for the land would be $22,538, and came with an appraisal the city had had done.
“The amount is the total amount of just compensation as determined in accordance with state law,” the letter said.
For them, the dry legal letter was an affront -- particularly given that their land is in an area long ignored by the city. Sidewalks are a rarity in the area and gravel roads aren’t uncommon.
Many of the houses around the Bakers' property are vacant. But the family has kept up its property. They’ve got apple, pear, pecan, and peach trees.
It’s more than just a piece of land to them.
“Where my momma gonna go and move into something like this?” Michael Baker said. “You ain't gonna find land like this is in South Dallas.”
Her eldest son, Lawrence, lived in a small frame house beside hers. He died in November.
Michael Baker lives in Lancaster, but he and his wife are frequently there.
On the land the city wants, he takes care of the horses they’ve kept on the land for decades. They currently have three.
“I love it down here. I think anybody would,” he said. “It’s our life. We’ve been here all our lives.”
His mother, now frequently forgetful, has a crystal-clear memory of the city taking her family’s land in Old East Dallas decades ago. She says she’s not going to let it happen to her again.
“We’ve got a peace of mind down here,” his mother said.
The Bakers say they've been told the city will eventually come for her house, and even if they don't, the construction may drive her out.
But the Bakers say they won’t back down. They’ll fight for what’s theirs.
“They've got to come back with some money,” Freddie Baker said. “The right kind of money. They wouldn't sell [their] place like that.”