Real Estate Round-Up
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The number of controversial eminent domain suits and controversies, like that of the Atlantic Yards project here or Columbia University’s expansion in Manhattan, have provoked several City Council members to pressure legislators in the capitol to change New York state eminent domain laws.Since the Council’s decision to approve Columbia University’s expansion into Harlem on Dec. 19, council members have been organizing to encourage a new and more straightforward process by which the city seizes property through eminent domain, …
Councilmember Letitia James (D-Brooklyn) said, “We are opening up the door wider and wider to the abuse of eminent domain by private businesses, which is really nothing more than a transfer of private property from one who has less means to one who has more means,” according to Brownstoner. James voted against the expansion of Columbia, and her district is home to the proposed site of the Atlantic Yards project, which she actively opposes.
The list of things many Council members would like to see change include a different way of appraising home values, a longer time period for owners to dispute property seizures, a payment above market-rate for seized homes for private-to-private transfers, and the elimination or change of the word “blight” in the law. Blight, some argue, is more often used unfairly in reference to poor neighborhoods, than wealthy ones.
Despite the urging of Council members like James, Helen Sears and Tony Avella, so far, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn has given no indication that she will push the issue in Albany. Mayor Bloomberg has already said it is not on his agenda at the moment.
http://www.brooklyneagle.com/categories/category.php?category_id=5&id=17834
Brooklyn Daily Eagle
by Brooklyn Eagle (), published online 01-15-2008
Jacqui Ryan