Testing the Boundaries of Eminent Domain
By JASON GEORGE

Published: March 31, 2004

ONG BRANCH, N.J. - The government's power to seize private land for public
use has historically been justified as benefiting the greater good. In
Colonial America, that meant taking private land to build roads or
government buildings. In the late 20th century, as cities cleared houses
for shopping malls and factories, the "GREATER GOOD" came to mean job
creation and economic revitalization.

But in this small coastal community, eminent domain, as the legal doctrine
is known, is expanding in a way unseen before in the nation on such a large
scale, according to those who track its use. As Long Branch undergoes a
comprehensive redevelopment project, it is prepared to seize and destroy
houses not for a school or even a supermarket, but to make room for new
condominiums and town houses.

"I mean, to build another highway, O.K.," said Rose LaRosa, 77, who lives
in a seaside cottage her father bought in 1944. "But another home?"

Long Branch has bought some of the houses, but Mrs. LaRosa's cottage is one
of 39 oceanfront properties standing in the way of the city's plans. Most
owners say they will not sell, no matter how much the city or a developer
is willing to pay, and they have cast themselves as the wronged
working-class heroes, as in a Steinbeck novel. The city's mayor points out
that they have known of the redevelopment plans for more than a decade, and
that they refuse to go through the proper legal channels to challenge the
seizures.

. . .

[Continued at
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/31/nyregion/31domain.html?ex=1082779200&en=bb
01a46354fdeff0&ei=5070 or the tiny URL, http://tinyurl.com/22l2u.  Note
free subscription required.]

(Thanks to Marc for this one.  Leon)



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