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April 10, 2008
Richard Lipsky: Willets Point and Atlantic Yards are different
The Neighborhood Retail Alliance
Uber-lobbyist Richard Lipsky posts twice today on his MomandPopNYC blog about Willets Point, and is careful to point out how eminent domain is bad — except when it benefits Atlantic Yards developer (and Lipsky paycheck-signer) Bruce Ratner.
So now the city is going to throw out the hundreds of businesses and the thousands of workers so that a few real estate companies can reap the benefits of the city's belated investment in infrastructure? This is seriously messed up, and cries out for a new approach to eminent domain that allows for greater scrutiny of blight claims-and yes my friends the undeveloped acreage around Atlantic Yards is different from the living, breathing businesses in West Harlem and on the Point.
NoLandGrab: The only "undeveloped acreage around Atlantic Yards" is the railyard itself — unless you count the numerous empty lots where buildings demolished by Ratner once stood.
The lawsuit filed against the city by Willets Point property owners highlights another problem that the city faces-and this one is political. As Eliot Brown points out in the Observer's real estate blog: " The city was days away from starting that process in February when local council members, led by Hiram Monserrate, became vocal in opposition to the project as planned. The city then backed away from its late February start date and now it’s been almost two months since the council members spoke out, with no new date set to start the rezoning. Yesterday, even more council members climbed into the criticism camp. David Weprin, Diana Reyna, Eric Gioia, Leroy Comrie Jr. and James Sanders Jr. joined Mr. Monserrate and Tony Avella at a press conference yesterday to criticize the plan for its effects on the business and landowners, with many expressing outright opposition to any plan that included the use of eminent domain (Mayor Bloomberg has strongly supported the potential use of eminent domain in the project.)"
What this looks like to us is the fact that, due to recent political circumstances surrounding the mayor and the speaker, more council members are being emboldened to stake out a position on eminent domain issues. We've gone beyond the usual suspects (or perhaps the enlightened few) to what is beginning to look like a groundswell. Let the lame duckery begin!
NoLandGrab: "The enlightened few" do not, apparently, include the double-talking Lipsky.
Posted by eric at April 10, 2008 2:48 PM