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June 23, 2006
In praise of condemnation
NY Daily News, Guest Columnist
By Shaun Donovan, Commissioner of New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development
Leave it to a Bloomberg administration official to editorialize in praise of condemnation. Mayor Bloomberg is lobbying hard for the US Senate to kill the eminent domain reform bill, which would starve NYC of millions of dollars of federal subsidies for projects using eminent domain (i.e. Atlantic Yards and Willets Point).
Shaun Donovan cites Melrose Commons and Times Square as successful urban renewal projects that used eminent domain and concludes:
Land use decisions are a fundamental concern of local government and should not be overridden by the federal government. Rather than imposing a rigid set of national rules from Washington - rules that would threaten affordable housing and economic development projects that benefit the public - it should be up to individual states and cities to set standards and address abuses when necessary. We should be free to continue building our future.
Posted by lumi at June 23, 2006 6:27 AM