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July 4, 2007
EMINENT DOMAINIA: The Big Apple Bites
In the week since groups fighting eminent domain abuse citywide got together to collectively voice their concerns, the West Harlem groups caught a break in the courts, Duffield St. Underground continues to build the case against the City, Willets Point property owners continue to make their point and Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn posted a July 4th greeting card:
WEST HARLEM, MANHATTAN
The NY Times, Neutrality in Expansion at Columbia Is Questioned
A judge has determined that the same company that produced the report glossing over the historical significance of the homes on Duffield St., and which made the case that the Atlantic Yards footprint is blighted, lacks sufficient neutrality "to determine whether the state would be justified in using its power of eminent domain to condemn property sought by Columbia for its expansion."
NoLandGrab: The company, AKRF, is known for its ability to produce a report in which the conclusions perfectly match the opinions of the party that commissioned the report.
The Neighborhood Retail Alliance, Columbia's Questionable Advisors
Richard Lipsky finds himself on one side of the issue in West Harlem and the other side in Brooklyn, since he's retained by Tuck-it-Away, a member of the West Harlem Business Association, and Atlantic Yards developer Forest City Ratner.
Lipsky makes some good points about AKRF:
Now it turns out that AKRF's talents are quite protean. The firm is not only doing the state's blight study, it is also representing the party that wants to condemn the West Harlem real estate-none other than Columbia the gem of the ocean. In its legal defense AKRF told the court that this apparent conflict wasn't really any problem since it had constructed a "Chinese Wall" within the company-something that, understandably so, Judge Kornreeich didn't find to be very credible.
Why is this so important? It is so because the blight study is what the state and Columbia will rely on to defend themselves against the inevitable litigation should the use of eminent domain be utilized to evict the West Harlem property owners. It is further crucial since the so-called blight will be determined for an area where Columbia itself has taken over the vast percentage of all of the extant property-and has purposefully allowed it all to deteriorate.
UPCOMING MEETING:
Manhattan Community Board 9
Monday, July 9, 2007
Public Hearing for 197A; ULURP Committee vote on 197A Plan to be held at Manhattanville Community Center, 530 West 133rd Street
DUFFIELD ST., BROOKLYN
Duffield St. Underground has been busy making the case for preserving the Duffield St. homes.
Public Benefits and Other Disappointments
Development under the Downtown Brooklyn Plan has run off track:
All of this raises an important question: What are the public benefits of the Downtown Brooklyn plan? If the plan is not living up to its promises, should the Economic Development Corporation continue with its eminent domain condemnation of private property? Eminent domain is only supposed to be used for some public good.
Organizing Against Eminent Domain Abuse Around New York City
Duffield Street homeowners Joy Chatel and Lew Greenstein were among the property owners who spoke about their own fight against the city to save their homes from being taken and bulldozed for a parking garage. Chatel chaffed at the notion, saying "as if this city needs more parking garages."
Citing the historical significance of the homes on Duffield St., homeowner Chatel pleaded for intervention from Albany, "Governor Spitzer, where are you?"
An emotionally charged Lew Greenstein told the crowd that it was "the little people" who are victims of eminent domain abuse and challenged the City and State to take Governor Spitzer or Mayor Bloomberg's home.
LPC Washes Its Hands of Duffield Street
The Courier-LIfe Publications reports that the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is "washing its hands" of the Duffield St. homes, even though experts testified to the possible historical significance of the homes.
Freddy's Standing Up with Video Coverage
The local program taped in one Brooklyn landmark threatened by eminent domain, Freddy's, has been covering the Duffield St. fight. Check out all three episodes.
WILLETS POINT, QUEENS
The Age, Scrap over junk as mayor tries to make a Point
News of what's happening in Willets Point reached Down Under:
The city wants to buy out the owners, but on the value of the properties now, rather than after rezoning.
If the owners refuse, the city may seize the land in a form of compulsory acquisition called "eminent domain".
NoLandGrab: Whether or not you favor the Mayor's plan for redevelopment of Willets Point, the question of who gets to profit from increased land values should concern anyone who believes in capitalism.
City Limits, WILLETS POINT TO CITY: SLOW DOWN AND LISTEN
Last week, a number of local nonprofits and politicians – including the Pratt Center for Community Development, ACORN and Queens City Councilmembers Hiram Monserrate and Tony Avella – convened a meeting of area stakeholders in order to gather input for a community plan to influence the administration's.
The area's business people and others are concerned that if City Council and the Planning Commission use the mayor’s plan as an occasion to rezone the area, as they did in the case of downtown Brooklyn in 2004, there won’t be another opportunity for community involvement, even if it comes to using eminent domain to forcibly remove property owners.
Posted by lumi at July 4, 2007 9:51 AM