Monthly Archives: January 2010

The Owners’ Counsel of America (OCA) will honor two journalists in 2010 with the Crystal Eagle Award for their remarkable journalism and unwavering effort to be critical and objective, specifically with respect to their investigative reportage and balanced analysis regarding the government’s use of eminent domain.

Americans became more familiar with the government’s power and use of eminent domain following the 2005 Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London, however, for New Yorkers eminent domain has become personal. The use of eminent domain in New York State, and particularly in metro New York, has been heavily discussed, analyzed and criticized in recent news, specifically with the debate surrounding the planned Atlantic Yards Project in Brooklyn and the December 3, 2009 appellate court decision barring the use of eminent domain for a proposed Columbia University expansion project in the West Harlem.

In a post Friday at Atlantic Yards Report, Norman Oder quotes Senator Bill Perkins at the NY Senate hearing on eminent domain reform, “This [eminent domain reform] is not like instant rice… it’s going to be an uphill battle, we’re going to win, without a doubt, but I don’t want us to think this is going to happen overnight… This is a struggle that is going to require our continued participation and continued vigilance.” Speaking on momentum for reform in the legislature, Sen. Perkins said that members of both the Assembly and Senate have reached out to him indicating that they are interested in looking more closely at the need for eminent domain reform.

The Senate Standing Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions, chaired by Senator Bill Perkins, conducted a public hearing yesterday (Tuesday, January 5, 2010) on eminent domain abuse in New York. The hearing entitled “Unconstitutional: What the Appellate Division’s Eminent Domain Ruling Means for the Columbia Expansion,” focused upon the recent Appellate Division ruling against the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) in the proposed condemnation for expansion of Columbia University, Kaur v. New York State Urban Development Corporation, decided December 3, 2009. (See the following blog commentaries on this decision – Atlantic Yards Report, Inverse Condemnation and Charles Bagli on the New York Times blog here.)

Kudos to Michael D. D. White (Noticing New York) for his amazing post (A Christmas Eve Story of Alternative Realities: The Fight Not To Go To Pottersville (Or Ratnerville) 12.24.09). White posted an eloquent adaptation of Frank Capra’s 1947 film It’s a Wonderful Life suggesting that if the movie were taking place in today’s New York, the lead character, George Bailey, would find similar monopolies and abuses of power as that seen in the original movie.