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October 20, 2007
Winners and losers remain unclear in Newark's arena gamble
NJ.com
Joan Whitlow examines the chaos caused by bad planning, including last minute questions about street closures as an anti-terrorism measure, residents being tormented with the threat of eminent domain, and the flattening of houses to make an interim parking lot, which could become permanent if the arena is too much of a flop to support other commercial development.
I stopped to check on Virginia Duprey, who has lived in the area around the arena for 52 years and owns a home at the corner of Columbia and Lafayette. A few days ago, she showed me how the crews widening Lafayette into an arena-feeding thoroughfare had gouged up heaps of dirt around her house exposing her foundation. When she asked who was going to fix her house, she was told no one because her house was going to be demolished. That was news to her.
...
The city slapped the neighborhood with a designation that allows the use of eminent domain to swap parcels of lands with developers. The official process, however, takes proper notice and time, adequate compensation and relocation expenses. A wrecking crew can't just slap an X on someone's house.Eng and Duprey say they have been getting certified letters, some of them threatening, from real estate concerns that have no power to exercise eminent domain but imply that they do. One letter warned Eng to "avoid a hostile triggering of eminent domain which we will have to apply if you do not cooperate."
Posted by amy at October 20, 2007 11:35 AM