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March 27, 2007
Homeowner Stares Down Wreckers, at Least for a While
News from Chongqing about taking of private property for a private project has been all over the papers and Internet during the past two weeks.
Since The NY Times is practically allergic to covering eminent domain, they're pretty much the last at the table. What's left to say that hasn't already been said? In today's article, the Times covers the coverage:
CHONGQING, China, March 23 — For weeks the confrontation drew attention from people all across China, as a simple homeowner stared down the forces of large-scale redevelopment that are sweeping this country, blocking the preparation of a gigantic construction site by an act of sheer will.
At a site in Chongqing, all of the households but one have left.
Chinese bloggers were the first to spread the news, of a house perched atop a tall, thimble-shaped piece of land like Mont-Saint-Michel in northern France, in the middle of a vast excavation.
Newspapers dived in next, followed by national television. Then, in a way that is common in China whenever an event begins to take on hints of political overtones, the story virtually disappeared from the news media after the government, bloggers here said, decreed that the subject was suddenly out of bounds.
Still, the “nail house,” as many here have called it because of the homeowner’s tenacity, like a nail that cannot be pulled out, remains the most popular current topic among bloggers in China.
NoLandGrab: As structures in the Atlantic Yards footprint are being demolished by Bruce Ratner around property owned by those who are still fighting in the courts, we hardly expect the Times to cover it, at least not before bloggers in China pick it up first.
Posted by lumi at March 27, 2007 8:14 AM