Eminent Domain is the power for the government to take private property for public use. In the U.S., the Fifth Amendment gives the government the power to take property for “public use” as long as it makes “just compensation” for them. This leave a lot of room for debate, as there is the question of what is public use and just compensation. There is also a question of whether or not this power of the government is right, since peoples right to private property is taken away. When talking about eminent domain, it’s hard not to think about Robert Moses and all that he built and that many critics believed that he abused the power of eminent domain. Although that may be true and many people were displaced because of all of his projects, it’s difficult to imagine the city without the things he built. For me, when I read about the project that it in the works that will use eminent domain, such as Atlantic Yards, or Willets Point, it’s difficult to think that the positives and benefits of the project will out weight the negatives of displacing people but when I look back on projects, like those of Moses, it’s much easier to see all the positives and why there is a need and use for eminent domain.

In the case of Atlantic Yards, the justification for eminent domain was blight, but the author says that the consultants had to stretch for the area to be labels as blight. Prospect Height was not initially blighted, but after owners left due to the threat of having their property taken away due eminent domain, it became a state of decay. This really just does not seem right on the part of the government, but I imagine that this happens in many areas where there is the possible threat of eminent domain to be used for a development project.

When I first saw that the article was going to be about eminent domain, I immediately thought about my project topic, Willets Point, which is also mentioned in the article. There is currently a plan to replace the scrapyards, auto body shops, and industrial sties of Willets Point with a large shopping center, housing, office space, and some other things meant to improve the area, and could potentially use eminent domain to acquire the land needed for the redevelopment project. As the article says, there is the mindset that in Willets Point, “anything is better than grubby body shops.” But the area serves people that would have a difficult time find another job since it is mainly immigrants, with limited skills who work there. It’s also a destination area to get cheap work done which is good for people who may not really be able to afford to go elsewhere to get their cars fixed.

Something that caught my attention was the author’s assessment that eminent domain abuse is a symptom of a deeper problem, the government’s belief that central planning is superior to free-market competition. In the case of Atlantic Yards and Willets Point, it seems like the government just wants to a big developer to go in and boost the area and economy as opposed to allow the small business stay and perhaps boost the area with time. I think it’s understandable to use eminent domain to build a public highway, hospital, school, or something like that, but for entertainment purposes, it really doesn’t seem like it should be used. There is more to Atlantic Yards than the Barclays Center, but that is the main part of the development, and for Willets Point, it would be the shopping center. The other stuff just seems to make the redevelopment sound better and more like it’s really for public use. In theses situations, eminent domain seems to be used to enrich few private developers at the expense of many small private developers.

I think it’ll take time to see whether the Atlantic Yards development, or other similar megaprojects in the city will be successful or not, but so far it seems to be the approach the city is taking as opposed to just trying to fix up an area. As the article said, the courts also aren’t much help for homeowners, except maybe in the case of West Harlem. In the research I have done so far for the project about Willets Point, the resident of Willets Point and several business owners have filed lawsuits, but it does not seem like they will win even though they have before. It sounds like the redevelopment plan for Willets Point will be approved and go on as planned, but a part of me hopes that it won’t because I don’t really think it is the best thing especially if the use of or threat of eminent domain is used.