A prominent Baton Rouge real estate developer believes he has the right to build on other people’s private property in the interest of progress and economic development.

J.T. “Tommy” Spinosa told The Advocate that big-money developers in the capital city, like himself, have unfettered license to use land they don’t legally own as they see fit. Spinosa’s comments came after the state’s 1st Circuit Court of Appeal ruled he mistakenly built homes for his much ballyhooed Rouzan development on a 30-foot servitude owned by a pair of families who reportedly were never compensated.

“It’s like they think they have some sort of constitutional guarantee to private property or something. How adorable,” Spinosa said of the two families who have been fighting him in court over Rouzan for more than a decade. “They and the judges don’t seem to realize people like me run this damn town. Without us, nothing in this godforsaken place will ever be built, which is why I can build on any little peon’s land. And if you’re not an asshole about it, I might give you some money for it. Maybe.”

The man who also spearheaded the development of Perkins Rowe offered his own interpretation of a famous Woody Guthrie song to bolster his argument.

“It’s like they think they have some sort of constitutional guarantee to private property or something. How adorable.”

“It’s like the old folk song says: ‘This land is your land, your land is my land.’ So you can take your so-called individual rights and shove ’em up your ass,” Spinosa said. “Oh, you don’t like that? What are you going to do, go and tell the judge again, you fucking little crybaby?”

Spinosa stated that he’s been working on Rouzan for over 20 years, adding, “If I can’t at least encroach on little people’s land, it might never be completed.”

Meanwhile, former Metro Councilman and prolific mansplainer John Delgado defended Spinosa’s claim to freely appropriate land owned by private citizens.

“Baton Rouge must not anger the developers, else they withhold the lifeblood of the new and shiny, and doom us all! DOOM, I SAY,” Delgado exclaimed on Third Street outside one of his numerous downtown watering holes. “The gods must be appeased for the sake of progress and economic viability! A 30-foot servitude is an embarrassingly small sacrifice to ensure the almighty Spinosa will continue to build and prevent Baton Rouge from becoming a hellscape, plunging into an irreversible economic depression, the likes of which the world has never seen before!

“Also, drink at my bars.”