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April 1, 2008
EMINENT DOMAINIA: NYC Twilight Zone Edition
 | There are treatments for ED, but first you have to admit you have a problem: |
NEW Penn Station, Listen to MAS President Kent Barwick on WNYC
Lately, the Municipal Art Society has been quiet about Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards fiasco... that is until last week, when MAS President Kent Barwick cited Atlantic Yards as a justification to use eminent domain for the Penn Station renovation.
The state has been willing to use its powers to take land for Bruce Ratner in Brooklyn to do Atlantic Yards or to take land in Morningside Heights away from private property owners to give to Columbia. Those are arguable public benefits, but there’s no question about the public benefit of having a great new rail station. This is the most important project in New York and is the single most important step in getting the West Side developed which we need for the future of the city.
NoLandGrab: How about citing the massive public subsidy for Atlantic Yards to justify, say, fully funding our local schools? Yeah, it really takes a while to wrap your head around that one.
Brownstoner, Vito's Plans for Pfizer: A Gross Misuse of Eminent Domain?
In a bizarre twist, Vito Lopez, the political boss who gave Bruce Ratner a generous carve-out in the 421-a affordable housing reform legislation, is now threatening to use eminent domain against Pfizer, the corporation that played a key role in the US Supreme Court's landmark ruling in Kelo vs. New London, the case that broadened the use of eminent domain to just about anything. Pfizer is crying foul, most property-rights activists are cross-eyed, but Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn's Dan Goldstein has managed to keep his head:
This morning the Sun takes a look at the drive to seize the old Pfizer plant in Williamsburg via eminent domain. Assemblyman Vito Lopez introduced a bill that would result in the state condemning the 15-acre property so it could acquire it and issue its own request for proposals to create around 1,700 affordable housing units. Pfizer intends to shut down the plant at the end of this year, and it released its own request for proposals for a mixed-use development on the site that would also include affordable housing.
...
"The fact that this grossly mistreats business doesn't make it any better," says Daniel Goldstein of Develop Don't Destroy Brooklyn. "If Lopez wants the affordable housing on that site then he should work with Pfizer to get it included in the development and require that they build it on their property."
Posted by lumi at April 1, 2008 5:12 AM