Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1959-02-22

erty involved in condemnation
The presidents Of local chap
tiers Of two national appraised
societies estimate that about
"a appraisers in the Washing
ton area regularly agree to aps
praise property involved n
condemnation.
The area, OF course. contains
many more than - expert APP
praisers. Il
However, appraisal Of prop
erty involved in condemnation
is especially difiicult and time-
consuming. The appraiser
must be an adept witness as
well as professionally compe-
tent because often he must de-
fend his appraisal under hos
tile interrogation in court. AZ
a matter of choice. many app
praisers decline condemnation
work. 4
AS indicated, the RIA does
not permanently employ ape
praisers. 1t issues separate
contracts to them Tor the aps
praisal Of individual land
squares. After an appraiser
assesses property in one square.
some time may elapse before
he receives a contract to eval@
uate another. However. the
RIA interprets its contract
with appraisers as prohibiting
them from evaluating property
for private owners anywhere in
Southwest Project Area c.
1t reports that on separate
occasions it has employed II
local appraisers in the project
area.
Defends Restrictions"
Mr.. Searles and his col.
leagues strongly defend their
attempts to prevent these app
praiSers from accepting work
from Southwest owners.
BY doing so, Mr.. Searles
argues, appraisers would acquire
IAN adverse interest" in prop
critics in the project area. e
Because numerous parcels OF
land and many owners are in
volved in each condemnation
suit, he says an appraiser could
| find himself testifying both for
! the Government and an owner
in the same case. This would
make it difficult for the Gov
eminent to impeach his app
praisal.
Mr.. Searles also contends
that the data compiled for the
RIA by an appraiser to sup
port his valuations must re-
main confidential. He reasons
that if an appraiser worked
for private owners he pre-
sumably would use much OF
the same type Of data in max
\ ing appraisals for them and
that it thus would become
known to court opponents q
THE RIA.
Appraiser Disputes View
However, Adelbert Lee, an
appraiser who often has worked
for the RIA, says this about its
interpretation of the contract:
1.-THE RIA is trying to put the
appraiser into bondage. Its irl-
depreciation of the contract 10
repugnant to the ethics of APP
praiSing because through it the
RIA is trying to control all
appraisers who have worked
/ for it.
"An appraiser cannot ac-
quire any interest direct or ad.
verse, in property by rendering
an appraisal. To furnish an APP
praisal is to tender an expert
opinion of the value of a piece
Iof property at a given time.
whether for the Government or
owner. An appraiser does not
testify for the Government or
for the property owner. He tes-
titles expertly as to the value
of the property only. An ap-
praisal should not be any diff
ferent whether made for an
owner or a Government taking
agency" Z
Largest Project in u. s.
Efforts to transform the
Southwest represent the larg-
est redevelopment project ever
attempted in the United States,
They create problems of land
acquisition unprecedented in
Washington.
The RIA has acquired more
than 1000 parcels of property
and displaced hundreds Of
families. Fraud and corruption
have been uncovered in many
much smaller public programs.
Investigation has produced no
hint of either in Southwest.
The property owners aim
the'r complaints rather at
broad policies and administra4
tive practices. i
In purging the city of slumS,
the RIA has dual duty under
the law. 1t must prevent waste
caused by overpaying owners.
1t must prevent injustice
caused by not paying them
enough.
The inquiry Mr.. Remon has
promised may answer the
question of whether its policies
can be improved to provide
greater assurance that it will
fulfill both duties.