Perkins
Will Lead Statewide Crusade for Eminent Domain Reform
By Jimmy Vielkind. New York Observer
As far as Bill Perkins is concerned, the issue of eminent domain has got
legs.
"It's really a corruption of our notion of democracy," said Perkins, a Democratic
state senator who represents Harlem. He was speaking Saturday at a Pentecostal
church on 125th Street. The room was one-third filled by people
who are concerned about the issue and active in fighting its application around
the city: at the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, in Willets Point in Queens
and just down the road in Manhattanville, where Columbia wants to build a
new campus.
Perkins was prompted to action two weeks ago, when
an appellate court ruled that the Empire State Development Corporation acted
improperly by declaring parts of Manhattanville blighted ahead of condemnation
for Columbia's campus. Columbia
first asked ESDC to look into eminent domain in 2004.
Perkins on Saturday reiterated
his call that ESDC not appeal this decision, and called for a moratorium
on the use of eminent domain for private development until a commission can
be formed and recommend revisions to the eminent domain procedure law.
"This is a very, very important movement," Perkins said, announcing a formal
hearing in Harlem on January 5. "We're going to be going around the state
to develop a case for reform."
He said the current law is a "corruption of our democracy." He's also said
it's like "a
gun to the community's head."
The cause is related to Perkins' last legislative accomplishment: stricter
oversight of public authorities (many of which have and use eminent domain
powers). He said there was no partner in the Assembly, but Richard
Brodsky has in the past called for an eminent domain commission and other
reforms. None have passed.
The event featured a panel who spoke about various fronts in eminent domain--attorney
Norman Siegel, Daniel Goldstein of DDDB, Amy Lavine of Albany Law School--who
spoke about their hopes for the Columbia case and about stopping
the sale of bonds for the Atlantic Yards.
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