The use of eminent domain as a government tool has a controversial history, and often evokes strong feeling those who its effected. In the City of New York, a place of used to change and large government development projects its makes a great deal that its densely populated populace would at one point collide with the use of eminent domain. Nicole Gelinas cites one example of the use of eminent domain in her article “Eminent Domain as Central Planning,” specifically targeting the abuses undergone in the development of the Atlantic Yards project.
The Atlantic Yard Project consists of a series of development currently around being constructed in the Prospect Heights area of Brooklyn. The project includes a number of high-rise apartment complexes, and even some unit earmarked for “affordable housing.” At the center of the project as many well know is the new Brooklyn Nets stadium. Ms. Gelinas documents the origins of the project in here article. The project was spearheaded by real estate developer Bruce Ratner who through a number of not quite ethical political maneuverings secured the Atlantic Yards project with the power of eminent domain. Subsequently, private property owners could be forced off their land in order to make way for the development.
I found it very interesting how Ms. Gelinas outlined the evolution of eminent domain, and what situations constituted a a legal of it. The constitution defines the valid use of eminent domain as long as the said property is for public use. Yet over time, this definition morphed into the much more ambiguous “public purpose.” The definition for eminent domain became even more fluid when the supreme court decided it could be used in situations for economic development. The increasingly dexterity of the use of eminent domain eventually led the way for projects such as the Atlantic Yards to come about.
In New York, the defining element for eminent domain became whether the said property was considered “blighted.” Yet this definition was also open to interpretation. Instead of the traditional definition which generally invokes images of clearly unsanitary dilapidated parcels of property, the city imagined other uses of the word. In their eyes, property which was not being utilized towards its potential could fall under this category. Simply exhibiting some wear and tear such as cracked sidewalks, graffiti, ect. could be grounds for eminent domain.
As a child I remember my father explaining to me the idea of eminent domain.I thought it crazy how the government could simply tell you to leave your home on a whim. While the act of eminent domain is more complicated than that, I still have deep reservations about the concept. While it may be generally on the side of progress, Ms. Gelinas’s article points to the many way in which it can be abused, and the catastrophic damage it may cause.
