http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/13/nyregion/13pfizer.html?_r=1&hp
Excerpt 1:
“They stole our home for economic development. It was all for Pfizer, and now they get up and walk away.” That sentiment has been echoing around New London since Monday, when Pfizer, the giant drug company, announced it would leave the city just eight years after its arrival led to a debate about urban redevelopment that rumbled through the United States Supreme Court, and reset the boundaries for governments to seize private land for commercial use.
Excerpt 2:
The decision was widely criticized, and spurred lawmakers across the country to adopt statutes to prevent similar uses of eminent domain. Scott G. Bullock, senior attorney at the Institute for Justice, a libertarian group in Arlington, Va., said that 43 states had moved to protect private-property rights since the Kelo decision. New York and New Jersey are among the seven that have not, he said.
Mr. Bullock, who represented the landowners in New London, said Pfizer’s announcement “really shows the folly of these plans that use massive corporate welfare and abuse eminent domain for private development.”
Me: Anyone who thinks that property tax reductions and promises of jobs for normal folks justifies eminent domain for corporate purposes should read this article about Pfizer and eminent domain in Connecticut.
Anyone who thinks the giant turd called Atlantic Yards is really for anything other than Bruce Ratner’s bottom line and Mayor Bloomberg’s ego/legacy are deluding themselves.
These companies expect full ass kissing and bending over, and when they don’t get it they tip out.
New London & Atlantic Yards illustrate how the notion of “public good” is corrupted in today’s interpretation of eminent domain; and the fact that there is a lot of play in the “just” of just compensation.
Eminent domain is the equivalent of legal theft under the badge of government; and we’re going to see more of it, not less of it.
New York and Pennsylvania, among many other states, will see much more eminent domain “takings” thanks to the rising interest in natural gas drilling in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale. With more drilling comes more pipelines and more underground gas storage fields — and that (underground storage fields & pipelines) always means eminent domain.
The excellent Institute for Justice (of Kelo fame) declines to intervene in energy/utility “takings” because, they told me, of the “public good” premise.
But property owners can fight back. Our two-year battle against Houston-based Spectra Energy which seized our property rights for an underground gas storage field led to the development of a website which has begun to attract whistle blowers inside the energy industry. We are collaborating and helping property owners in many states. For info, visit the site: http://www.spectraenergywatch.com/blog/
By the way, our new neighbor, Spectra Energy, has received two Notice of Violations for “unlawful conduct” over the past two months related to emergency shutdowns and emissions at its storage field in Bedford County, PA. Reports of contaminated water supplies are on the rise since they began operations.
Excellent comment, and I couldn’t agree more. Unless people stand up and say this is total crap and we’re going to vote everybody out who participates in these undercover corporate land grabs, it will continue.
The Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn is the dirtiest, sleaziest money soaked piece of garbage I’ve ever seen in my almost twenty years in New York City. And then you tell people about it, and they shrug their shoulders.
I’ve followed the Marcellus Shale issue. NPR is doing a lot of coverage about it as it impacts NYC water supplies. Why won’t they tell everyone what they’re shooting down into the ground to forced out the gas? Because people would flip out if they knew.
Best of luck up there.