« Atlantic Yards project deemed unnecessary... in 1985 | Main | Public authorities: not reformed quite yet »
December 22, 2009
Eminent Domain Abuse: The Gifts That Keep On Giving and the Gifts That Don’t
Noticing New York
Michael White examines the case of Kelo v. City of New London for lessons learned. One lesson is that gifts given to a party that haven't been worked for are often not particularly valued. This seems to be the case in Kelo where Pfizer was the recipient of much government largesse.
We are making a point of two things here: How far the societal norms were bent out of shape in order to pile benefit on Pfizer and the fact Pfizer is taking a walk nevertheless. At first blush the principal relationship between those two things may seems to be its sadness, but probably isn’t. More likely the most important relationship between these two things is that the heedless piling on of benefits to Pfizer may actually be regarded as a cause of Pfizer’s departure. That, by analogy brings us back to Sam’s rule: What you don’t charge for is likely to wind up being undervalued.
Development, like psychoanalysis, should not involve an investment of commitment or effort on only one side. What is sad is that what was bulldozed for the unappreciative Pfizer’s benefit was just the opposite: It was people like Susette Kelo and her neighbors who, having invested in their property without subsidy and fully paying their taxes, were not going to leave. The lawsuit brought by Ms. Kelo and her neighbors, in fact, reflected their tenacious fight and commitment to stay. Had they been allowed they would be there still, still paying taxes.
This blog entry also points to how so many of those pushing for eminent domain in the Kelo case have all moved on, as it becoming more and more the case with the proposed Atlantic Yards project.
Finally, there is a suggestion for gift-giving for those who oppose eminent domain abuse in general and the proposed Atlantic Yards project in particular.
The perfect holiday gift? Make a donation to Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, the lead opponents against Atlantic Yards. Or you might want to consider purchasing lots of these very handsome and convenient Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn tote bags which will support the cause. (See: Gift Idea: Develop Don't Destroy Bag.) Give the gift that keeps giving to fight he gifts that keep taking. One way in which none of us would like the Atlantic Yards epilogue to sound like the Pfizer epilogue is for it to end with a blight-delivering loss.
Posted by steve at December 22, 2009 6:53 AM