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January 11, 2006
...and let's not forget the eminent domain
An alert reader brought to our attention that the East River Plaza project featured in today's Times, to be developed jointly by the Blumenfeld Group and Forest City Ratner, is another dark chapter in the City's history of using eminent domain for private gain.
The tale was told in a Village Voice article, "Property Rights and Wrongs," from December, 2000.
M. Robert Goldstein, an attorney who helped draft New York's eminent domain process law nearly 25 years ago and who has represented clients on both ends of the bulldozer, says it's time to reconsider how the law is implemented. "You cannot run government without eminent domain, but you must not confuse the right with the possibility for abuse," he says. The use of eminent domain has evolved from explicitly public projects like hospitals and schools to current schemes like East River Plaza. "The result," says Goldstein, "is that anything goes."
Posted by lumi at January 11, 2006 5:25 PM