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December 5, 2009
Property Rights Are No Slam-Dunk
Investor's Business Daily
Eminent Domain: Four years after the Supreme Court told a Connecticut homeowner that no one's house is safe from developers, Brooklyn homeowners may lose their homes to a pro basketball team.
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The latest victims of the Kelo decision may well be the residents of an area of Brooklyn known as Atlantic Yards, dominated by a rail yard and with homes and businesses that the state of New York, if not the residents, considers blighted.
Many states after Kelo took legislative action to protect private property and homeowners from seizure without a legitimate public use, but not New York. Its plans for the 22-acre site include an 18,000-seat basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets. That will certainly produce more tax revenue than small businesses and homeowners who don't want to move.
NoLandGrab: Missed entirely here is that, according to the New York City Independent Budget Office a Nets arena would be a money loser for New York City.
Posted by steve at December 5, 2009 8:28 AM