Eugene Pfeifer III
Eugene Pfeifer III was the owner of two of the twenty-seven acres comprising the current site of the Clinton Presidential Center. Mr. Pfeifer's land was condemned by the city of Little Rock in 1999 so that it could become the site for the Clinton Presidential Library.
In 2000 Pfeifer's attorneys sued the City of Little Rock, which had hoped to acquire his land for a sum of $400,000. Pfeifer argued in court briefs that the city had no authority to take private land unless the property was reserved for public parkland. He argued that the land in question was not to be taken for this purpose in an eminent domain proceeding, as it was not previously zoned for parks. The lower court judgment went against Pfeifer.
Pfeifer filed a court appeal against the City of Little Rock in May 2001. In a nationally-broadcast Fox News segment Pfeifer said he "[did not] approve of the way the decision was made ... to give the land to the library, and I don't approve of the way they decided to pay for it. And I'm hoping that by keeping my land I can then bargain with the library foundation to give the money back to the city, at which point they can have my land for the appraised value, the 400,000."
In the same June 4, 2001, interview Pfeifer specifically cited ongoing financial problems in Little Rock. "Our city is practically broke and can't afford the gift of the land to the library," said Pfeifer. "And only one library in this country [the Truman Library] is on land given by a city. The rest were supplied by the state as a whole or by private funds." He also noted an increase in zoo patron fees and closure of city restrooms to offset a proposed $16 million park revenue bond to pay for the various parcels of land destined for the Clinton Library. "The money specifically came from our zoo. And it came at the very point in time when our zoo lost its license and its accreditation. ... I'd like to see the money go back is to the zoo and the rest of the Parks Department that is suffering from this loss. In the two years since that was done, the restrooms have been closed in 13 of our city parks. We are suffering from this money being shunted aside to buy land for the library."
On November 1, 2001 the Arkansas Supreme Court ruled against Pfeifer in the matter of Pfeifer v. City of Little Rock.
Pfeifer was born and raised in the city of Little Rock. He later went to Yale on a Navy scholarship. After his time in the Navy, he attended Harvard Business School, where he received his M.B.A. He came back to Little Rock and went into the family business at the Mechanics Lumber Company and later formed his own real estate business. Pfeifer has been active in the Little Rock community, developing apartment complexes for single families and a Kroger store. Pfeifer bought the May Supply Company in 1992, the same year that Bill Clinton was elected President of the United States.
He is currently working on the NorthShore Business Park.
References
- "Clinton Library Gets Green Light," American Libraries, 32.11 (December 2001): 22-24.
- David Firestone, "A Fight Over Land for Library," New York Times,May 2, 2001.
- Bill O'Reilly, "Eugene Pfeifer III versus the Clinton Library," O'Reilly Factor: Fox News, June 4, 2001.
