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August 16, 2007
Testimony on Eminent Domain in NYC
NoLandGrab contributor Lumi Michelle Rolley attended last night's Manhattan Community Board 9 Land Use Committee hearing on the Columbia University 179c expansion plan to offer a citywide view of the increasing abuse of eminent domain.
The following is a draft of the testimony given:
NYC Urban planning in the 60’s and 70’s was characterized by large-scale public projects, where government swept away entire neighborhoods under the guise of slum clearance, only to build largely soulless public projects that rarely delivered on their utopian promises.
With the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, Columbia University’s expansion plan, and Mayor Bloomberg’s plan for Willets Point in Queens, today, our city stands at the threshold of another era in City Planning, again defined by the use of eminent domain for large scale projects – only this time we’re taking people’s property for private development.
Both of these eras have been defined by powerful interests promising incredible benefits. The fact of the matter is that these benefits never ever pan out.
And, don’t even try to tell us that Columbia University’s expansion is a public benefit – University officials have told that lie to anyone who will listen. Columbia University is a private institution, not a public use. Alongside those mandatory inflated jobs figures, this is one of the most enduring fallacies in their massive PR campaign
So one can say what they will about any of the arguments for the expansion, one thing is for certain, the taking of private property for a private institution is UN-CONSTITUTIONAL, UNFAIR and UN-AMERICAN. Our founding fathers created one of the most enduring public documents, the US Constitution, which derives its strength from safeguarding the rights of individuals from the whims and desires of the politically powerful.
A vote in support of Columbia’s expansion plan, a vote against the Constitution, is a vote against our individual rights, a vote against America, a vote against all the men and women who have sacrificed their lives to protect this country and our way of life.
I see that Columbia has been very successful with rallying groups to their cause, but every individual in these groups, every individual, deep down in their heart, in this room knows that I am speaking the truth and that Columbia could propose a plan that wasn’t an assault on the community.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Today’s chapter in our city has yet to be written. We are on the verge of becoming a city where the politically powerful get to decide who gets to keeps their homes and businesses. If we go that route, then every home or property owner in any area that is about to be rezoned in NYC needs to watch out, they could be the next victim of eminent domain abuse.
On the other hand, we can define our era as the time when those who have invested their lives in this city to make it a better place to live and do business have a say in where this city is headed. You [community board members] represent those people and you must consider this project not only in the context of what works for West Harlem, but in consideration of where this city is headed and how we will be remembered.
Posted by lumi at August 16, 2007 10:13 AM