« The "Green Zone..." | Main | Channels 7 and 5 Cover the Atlantic Yards Ground Taking »
March 13, 2010
Atlantic Yards Ground Breaking
WNYC Radio's Brian Lehrer Show
Nicoles Gelinas joined Brian Lehrer Friday morning to discuss the Atlantic Yards groundbreaking and the abuse of eminent domain.
Related coverage...
Atlantic Yards Report, On Brian Lehrer: the Manhattan Institute's Gelinas vs. AY on eminent domain, blight, and affordable housing (and Ratner as a creature of the state)
Yesterday, WNYC talk show host Brian Lehrer opened up a segment on Atlantic Yards by suggesting that listeners might be surprised that opponents of eminent domain for Atlantic Yards are not just political liberals but are joined by conservatives like his guest, Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute.
Actually, he had it backwards--as a caller pointed out. Conservatives have long been opposed to eminent domain, while liberals--leading the narrow 5-4 Supreme Court majority in the controversial 2005 Kelo v. New London eminent domain case--have been much more willing to defer to state power.
The curious thing is that, in New York, where the balance tilts enormously to the state, those who might be politically liberal in general have found themselves opposing particularly egregious cases of eminent domain and thus aligned themselves with those on the right.
"It’s not unusual to see strange bedfellows, if you realize the common ground is distrust of government power," former New York Civil Liberties Union director Norman Siegel, who's challenged the Columbia University expansion, said in December.
Posted by eric at March 13, 2010 12:46 AM