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June 30, 2005
Government theft gets Supreme backing
NY Daily News
Be Our Guest (Columnist)
by Julia Vitullo-Martin
Though traditionally no friend of "the left," Vitullo-Martin's city government experience and Manhattan Institute credentials often leave her criticism unanswered. A NoLandGrab must read — here are some excerpts from her opinion piece:
More than any other place, New York is threatened by the Supreme Court decision allowing private property to be condemned and turned over to other private citizens in the name of fostering economic development.
This is bad news for New Yorkers, who have for decades endured the destruction of their neighborhoods - and the demolition of entire blocks - in the name of urban renewal. Indeed, scholar Martin Anderson once noted that New York State accounted for 34% of all urban renewal funds - nearly all of them spent in New York City. East Harlem alone had one-third of its land cleared - destruction from which it is only now recovering.
New York State has one of the most expansive eminent domain laws in the country - and one that has been upheld by the state's Court of Appeals. The only recourse in New York is political.
New Yorkers successfully halted the old urban renewal in the 1970s. Now they must fight to halt the new urban renewal by securing the same protective legislation already enjoyed by four other states whose big cities had had enough.
Posted by lumi at June 30, 2005 6:57 AM