In 2000, the New London City Council approved a development plan for the Fort Trumbull peninsula and granted the New London Development Corporation (now called the Renaissance City Development Association) the authority to implement that plan, including the authority to seize people's homes by eminent domain.

Some Fort Trumbull residents sold their homes willingly; others sold under duress. Some refused to sell at all, but NLDC took the titles to their properties nonetheless. This entire plan was based on the principle that lowering the taxes on the properties of the wealthy was a more important social goal than preserving the very existence of the homes of the working class.

Many New London residents were horrified. Week after week, they crowded into City Hall to voice their opposition. By then, however, it was too late. Elected officials no longer had the authority to change course. NLDC leaders plowed - or, rather, bulldozed - ahead, resolute in their conviction that some people's homes should be destroyed so that other people's property taxes might be lowered.

Ultimately, of course, the fight went to the United States Supreme Court. When Kelo v City of New London was decided in 2005, the city lost more than it won. We won the right to bulldoze homes for economic development, but we lost our reputation as a city where everyone matters equally. To the rest of the country, we became infamous as a place where anyone's home could be seized by the higher bidder, the national epicenter of classism.

I believe most New Londoners disagree with the Kelo decision. The vast majority of New Londoners value the belief that everyone matters equally. New Londoners, then and now, define "the greater good" differently than the leaders of NLDC did.

In fact, I believe New Londoners voted overwhelmingly for our new strong mayoral form of government largely in response to what happened in Fort Trumbull. We wanted accountability and transparency. We certainly didn't want Fort Trumbull's future decided by a private corporation whose sole criteria for membership is having enough money to join.

We can't reverse what happened at Fort Trumbull a decade ago. We can, however, reassert the city's control over the peninsula's future and work to wash clean the stain on our city's national reputation.

To that end, I have asked our City Council to pass a resolution on Sept. 15 authorizing me to request from NLDC/RCDA the title to all transferable Fort Trumbull properties. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has said that, at the request of the city, he will authorize the transfer.

NLDC/RCDA, while not stating outright opposition to this transfer, continues, after months of conversations, to state that they are still deciding whether such a transfer would be "in the best interests of the city." They question whether the city should take on the responsibility for soil remediation and whether the city should assume additional liability. Never once have I heard them state clearly why they, rather than the people of New London acting through their elected officials, should determine what the city's best interests are.

The city knows how to get grants for soil remediation. We've gotten them in the past, and we will have to remediate the soil for property we already own at Fort Trumbull. Likewise, the liability for additional property at Fort Trumbull will not be a significant burden. We already carry liability on our other properties there.

The arguments advanced by NLDC/RCDA to possibly prevent this transfer are merely a smokescreen to preserve their power and excuse their failure.

If we, as a city and as a people, fail to act now, we can never again point a finger for what happened at Fort Trumbull at the NLDC/RCDA; we can never again point a finger at the state; we can never again say, "This was done to us." If we do not reclaim our land, we must now and forever say, "We have done this to ourselves."

Daryl Justin Finizio is the mayor of New London.