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March 2, 2006
WELD VOWS TO BAR EMINENT DOMAIN IN PRIVATE TAKINGS
Likens Recent High Court Ruling To Ideology of Communist China
The NY Sun
By Jacob Gershman
Thrusting the heated issue of eminent domain into the forefront of the governor’s race, Republican candidate William Weld vowed that, if elected, he would bar state government from condemning private property and transferring it to another private owner.
In a speech yesterday in New York City, where protracted legal battles over eminent domain are playing out in Manhattan and Brooklyn, Mr. Weld, a former federal prosecutor who was also governor of Massachusetts, said the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of giving local governments broad leeway in seizing private property reminded him of “Communist China.” And he challenged his Democratic rival, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, to define his position on an issue that is gaining traction in New York and other states.
...
While in that case the liberal justices sided with New London, in New York City some liberal community activists have joined forces with property rights groups to oppose development projects, such as Bruce Ratner‚s Atlantic Yards development in downtown Brooklyn and Columbia University‚s expansion of its campus into West Harlem. Mr. Weld said he has no problem with Mr. Ratner's project. [emphasis added]
Posted by lumi at March 2, 2006 9:50 AM