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April 8, 2007
Flexing Big Muscles for a Little Library
The NY Times
By Jake Mooney
More evidence that Bruce Ratner is the poster-child for eminent domain abuse:
The Ulmer Park Branch Library, a squat, one-story brick building on Bath Avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, would seem to have little in common with the skyscrapers and the wavy metal arena proposed for the 22-acre site to the north where the developer Bruce Ratner seeks to build the Atlantic Yards.
But like Mr. Ratner, officials of the Brooklyn Public Library are wrangling with local landowners over property they want — in this case, the library building. And like Mr. Ratner, the library’s representatives have raised the possibility of using eminent domain, which is the government’s power to acquire private property without the owner’s consent for the public good.
NoLandGrab: But unlike Mr. Ratner, the library has yet to follow through on that threat. And unlike Mr. Ratner, Brooklyn Public Library is a "public" library is a "public use" — perennial-eminent-domain-abuser Mr. Ratner's projects are "private," which like "public" starts with "p," but means the exact opposite.
Posted by lumi at April 8, 2007 6:59 PM