June 25, 2009
Reason Online
"As Naked an Abuse of Government Power as Could be Imagined"
Property rights were probably the last thing on President Barack Obama's mind when he selected Judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter. But that hasn't stopped Sotomayor's nomination from reigniting the long-simmering national debate over the use and abuse of eminent domain.   More

June 25, 2009
Philadelphia Inquirer
Campbell's asks Camden to acquire, raze Sears Building
Campbell Soup Co. has asked Camden officials to acquire the city's historic Sears, Roebuck & Co. store through eminent domain so that it can be knocked down to make way for an office park the company is developing.   More

June 23, 2009
New York Post
Atlantic Yards Budget Balloons by Nearly a Billion
All the bells and whistles have been stripped from it -- most notably "starchitect" Frank Gehry and his expressionist building and arena designs -- but the cost of developer Bruce Ratner's controversial Atlantic Yards project has ballooned by nearly a billion dollars, state officials said today.   More

June 23, 2009
New York Daily News
MTA lets Atlantic Yards developer Bruce Ratner go on the installment plan
Under a new agreement unveiled Monday, Ratner will pay just $20 million upfront - with the other $80 million spaced out over 21 years.

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June 22, 2009
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Property dispute revolves on definition of blight

Milwaukee may have an opportunity to shape the future of Wisconsin eminent domain cases. A case facing the Common Council involves a dispute between owners of a private parcel of land and the city, which wants the land to be developed.

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June 20, 2009
Associated Press
Plans to develop 'Iron Triangle' near Mets' stadium on track despite economic downturn

The red brick arches on the facade of the New York Mets' new stadium rise stories above a pristine plaza of plants, bushes and walkways, encasing the baseball team's $850 million playground. Yards away, just across the street, sits the "Iron Triangle," a decades-old eyesore made up of auto-repair shops and junkyards.

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June 17, 2009
The Journal News
Port Chester ends decade-long eminent domain case with public apology
The village apologized to a property owner yesterday for improperly seizing his land a decade ago and officially signed an agreement that will pay him $475,002 and name a street after him.   More

June 16, 2009
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Council lets family submit plans before using eminent domain
Rafael Cetina and his family won't lose their land just yet. Milwaukee's Common Council decided Tuesday to give Cetina another chance to submit redevelopment plans before they take his land using eminent domain.   More

June 16, 2009
El Paso Times
Voters to decide use of eminent domain
Rosenbaum said the constitutional amendment did not do enough to protect property owners because it did not clearly define acceptable uses of eminent domain.   More

June 16, 2009
San Diego Union-Tribune
Eminent domain like a punch to gym's gut

Victor Nunez says the Community Youth Athletic Center has helped at-risk youngsters in National City. During his 24 years in the District Attorney's office, Victor Nunez has fought many battles, but perhaps none which has brought out so much passion in him.

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June 15, 2009
The Star-Ledger
N.J. lawmakers say tougher eminent domain law possible by year's end
After years of negotiation between business leaders and municipalities, legislators said today they've reached an agreement to change New Jersey's liberal eminent domain law.   More

June 13, 2009
Associated Press
Mass. proposal would make it harder to seize homes
It’s been four years since the nation’s highest court ruled in a Connecticut case that cities may bulldoze people’s homes to make way for shopping malls. Now, some Massachusetts lawmakers want to toughen protections for homeowners.   More

June 13, 2009
St. Paul Pioneer Press
A good step back Port made the right call to take eminent domain off the table this time
We welcome the decision by the St. Paul Port Authority to step back from using eminent domain to acquire private land for a North End redevelopment project. We hope that with that threat out of the way, the Port and the company can discuss mutually beneficial opportunities for growth and development.    More

June 11, 2009
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Port Authority drops effort to condemn St. Paul business
The St. Paul Port Authority has ended its effort to seize land from a longtime North End business.   More

June 10, 2009
Queens Courier (N.Y.)
Eminent domain protests at Willets Point
Ralph St. John, owner of St. John Enterprises Incorporated, has worked in Willets Point for 36 years. Before starting his business, he did not know how to read and write, but he is well aware that eminent domain is threatening to take away his business and his livelihood.   More

June 10, 2009
Maryland Daily Record
Baltimore Council moves to slow quick-takes
Benjamin Baylor, an auto repairman from East Baltimore, found out just a few weeks ago that the city planned to seize part of his property with the controversial “quick-take” method of condemnation, pay him $12,000 for it and use it as part of the $1.8 billion East Side revitalization project.   More

June 9, 2009
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
City set to take family's land

Employing a rarely used provision of city code, Milwaukee officials are poised to take two commercial lots from one owner and then sell them to another developer who has made campaign contributions to a key alderman.

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June 9, 2009
Asbury Park Press (New Jersey)
Ordinance would limit use of eminent domain
NEPTUNE — An ordinance that would restrict the township's exercise of its powers of eminent domain was introduced at Monday's Township Committee meeting.   More

June 9, 2009
The Lufkin Daily News
State's efforts to improve private property rights are half-hearted at best
One of a most serious concerns facing property owners will be decided in November by voters — the right of government to use the power of eminent domain to take private property exclusively for the purpose of economic development.   More

June 8, 2009
Associated Press
Ag groups say more eminent domain reform needed
Texas farm and ranch groups are glad lawmakers have taken steps to revisit eminent domain law but say it’s “nowhere near” what’s needed in a state where most land is privately held.   More

June 7, 2009
The Globe & Mail
Gehry leaves Brooklyn megaproject
Late last week, the developer of Atlantic Yards, the massive insta-neighbourhood planned for downtown Brooklyn, confirmed the rumour that had been swirling since late last year: Frank Gehry is off the project. The move by Forest City Ratner is the construction-world equivalent of trying to save the patient by killing the patient.    More

June 4, 2009
Austin American-Statesman
Eminent domain reform demands a special session
Of all the important issues facing our great state, eminent domain demands immediate legislative action.    More

June 1, 2009
Associated Press
Lawmakers approve eminent domain vote
Texas lawmakers have agreed to let voters statewide decide whether to place some limits on when governments can take private property.   More

May 31, 2009
The Orange County Register
Right time to reform redevelopment
...[G]iven that redevelopment agencies routinely abuse eminent domain, facilitate overdevelopment of shopping centers and impose low-income subsidized housing on cities. It's time to take a close look at the redevelopment game.   More

May 31, 2009
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
TIF request is on a 'scale we've never seen before'
Developer Paul McKee is looking for the biggest handout ever given by City Hall. The St. Charles County developer submitted an application last week for hundreds of millions of dollars in public incentives to aid his NorthSide project...   More

May 28, 2009
Queens Times-Ledger
City to begin eminent domain process at Willets Point
The city will formally kick off plans to seize control of the remaining privately-owned land at Willets Point this June, officials at the Economic Development Corp. said Wednesday.   More

May 28, 2009
Associated Press
Eminent domain back before the courts in Missouri
Missouri’s courts are again involved in a battle over potential ballot measures restricting the use of eminent domain to take private property for redevelopment.   More

May 26, 2009
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
North side residents wary of McKee's plan
Williams worries she will get bought out soon, too, and lose her store to eminent domain. McKee has said he won't use that blunt and expensive tool to displace many residents, but Williams notes that he didn't say the same about businesses.   More

May 22, 2009
WISH-TV (Indianapolis)
Dispute over plan to restore Speedway
There are big plans to renovate the area around the Speedway. They call for rerouted streets, roundabouts, and new shopping. But the owners of one business are resisting part of that plan.   More

May 22, 2009
Associated Press
St. Louis neighborhood could see $5.4B development
"We will not use eminent domain to take your house to build somebody else's house," McKee said. But he said he would pursue eminent domain if it would lead to substantial job creation.    More

May 21, 2009
The Columbia Spectator
Manhattanville property owners fight eminent domain in court
Manhattanville property owners who have not struck deals with Columbia over land use in the University’s 17-acre campus expansion site fought eminent domain in court on Thursday afternoon.   More

May 21, 2009
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
McKee lays out vision for massive north St. Louis redevelopment
The vision that developer Paul McKee has for re-creating north St. Louis is massive indeed. Four and a half million square feet of new office buildings and stores, stretching from downtown to Natural Bridge Road to the Mississippi. Ten thousand new homes.   More

May 20, 2009
GlobeSt.com
ESDC Stands by Atlantic Yards
ESDC--the state’s quasi-governmental agency that partnered with FCRC to develop the 22 acres near downtown Brooklyn--defends the rationale behind public "support" of the project, telling GlobeSt.com that Atlantic Yards "will result in the revitalization of an underutilized and blighted area."   More

May 19, 2009
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Appeals court says 'no' to Eagan's seizure of three businesses
In a blow to Eagan's plans for a new walkable downtown, the Minnesota Court of Appeals has reversed a district court decision that allowed the Eagan Economic Development Authority to seize multiple businesses by eminent domain.    More

May 19, 2009
Associated Press
New push for eminent domain in Atlantic City
On Tuesday, several casino executives and a former mayor who is now a state lawmaker called for aggressive use of government's power of eminent domain to seize vacant buildings and land and clear the way for new development in the nation's second-largest gambling market.   More

May 15, 2009
The New York Times
Appeals Court Dismisses Suit Against Atlantic Yards
An hour after learning that a state appeals court had dismissed a major challenge to his long-delayed Atlantic Yards development project, the developer Bruce C. Ratner said he planned to break ground by October on an $800 million basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets in Brooklyn.   More

May 14, 2009
San Antonio Express-News
Texas needs real property rights protection
Senate Bill 18 is this legislative session's eminent domain reform bill. However, it was recently stripped in the Senate State Affairs Committee of two key reforms. Today, there is a good chance that after the Legislature adjourns, Texas property owners will still be subject to the same takings that outraged the nation in the Kelo case.   More

May 11, 2009
Reason
Sold Down the River: How Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour sabotaged eminent domain reform
Since the Supreme Court's notorious 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which allowed that municipality to seize private property on behalf of the Pfizer Corporation, 43 states have passed laws protecting property rights against Kelo-style eminent domain abuse. Mississippi is not one of those states.   More

May 11, 2009
Associated Press
Senate passes private property amendment
State and local governments would face new limits to when they can take private property, under a proposed constitutional amendment passed Monday by the Texas Senate.   More

May 10, 2009
Brazosport Facts
Senate bill will protect land owners
The Texas Senate took an important step toward protecting the rights of landowners when it passed Senate Bill 18, which puts sturdy rules in place regarding a government’s ability to take private property.   More

May 7, 2009
The Free Liberal
Mississippi: Gov. Barbour Protects Insiders at Your Expense
Do not be misled by Governor Barbour’s call for a special session to address Mississippi’s eminent domain laws. He is not interested in protecting your property.    More

May 7, 2009
The Chicago Reader
Taking Advantage of TIF Ignorance

Is someone using the proposed North Pullman TIF to scare the neighbors into selling cheap?

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May 7, 2009
San Diego Union-Tribune
Extension granted for hotel developer
In 2004, San Diego used eminent domain to take Ahmad Mesdaq's downtown cigar lounge to make way for a four-star Marriott, and the hotel developers yesterday got more time to build it. As yet, the prime Gaslamp District corner at Fifth Avenue and J Street is still a parking lot.    More

May 5, 2009
Orange County Register
Big government bipartisanship
The Fullerton City Council is set to vote today on a noxious redevelopment plan that will undermine property rights, promote the use of eminent domain, encourage taxpayer subsidies for favored businesses and require the creation of more low-income, subsidized housing.   More

May 4, 2009
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
Session over land seizures spurs doubts
Key advocates of legislation to keep the government from taking private land for the use of other private entities aren't sure the issue can be resolved in a special session that Gov. Haley Barbour said he will call.   More

May 4, 2009
The Associated Press
Senate passes bill to help landowners
The Texas Senate voted Monday to expand the rights of property owners who face having their land taken by the government.   More

May 1, 2009
Face the State
FTS investigation: Arvada redevelopment project sits mostly vacant, costing taxpayers nearly $800,000
After the Arvada Urban Renewal Authority condemned and forcibly acquired an elderly small business owner's property in 2004, the land was transferred to a private developer who was given the property free of charge. Now city leaders and other project supporters are lauding the project with awards, despite the fact that the new development sits mostly vacant.    More

May 1, 2009
The Martinez News-Gazette
Conference lays out pitfalls of Redevelopment Agencies

Chris Norby is a man on a mission. Prior to being elected to his current position on the Board of Supervisors of Orange County, Norby served as a Fullerton, City Council member from 1984 to 2002.

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April 30, 2009
The Wall Street Journal
There Goes the Neighborhood: A Fight Over Defining 'Blight'
U.S. Supreme Court rulings on property law don't often serve as clarion calls to wide swaths of the population. But most rulings aren't Kelo v. City of New London.   More

April 30, 2009
The Montgomery Advertiser
Panel hears eminent domain issues
A statewide group that focuses on civil rights issues will review the cases of four individuals, including two Montgomery property owners, who believe that state or local government is trying to use the law to deprive them of their property.   More

April 29, 2009
The Clarion-Ledger
Special session set on property rights
Gov. Haley Barbour will call a special legislative session and ask the House and Senate to formally regulate the government's use of eminent domain to take private property for economic development projects.   More

April 26, 2009
The Tuscaloosa News
Fight property abuse
What is happening in the cradle of the modern civil rights movement?   Jimmy McCall would like to know.  ”It was more my dream house,” he laments, “and the city tore it down….It reminds me of how they used to mistreat black people in the Old South.”     More

April 23, 2009
The Atlanticville
Broadway- Gateway blight challenged
A lawsuit filed against the city of Long Branch charges that the process used by the city to designate properties as "in need of redevelopment" in the Broadway Gateway redevelopment zone was unconstitutional and should be overturned.   More

April 23, 2009
The Hub (Red Bank, N.J.)
Ordinance bans eminent domain for private projects
The Borough Council approved an ordinance at the April 13 meeting that bans the use of eminent domain when a private developer is involved.   More

April 23, 2009
Orange County Register
Folly comes to Fullerton
Those who are familiar with the history of "urban renewal" in Orange County would recognize that the city of Fullerton retains its historic charm and eclectic downtown largely because the city has avoided the sort of heavy-handed government redevelopment efforts that destroyed...   More

April 23, 2009
The Daily Mail
Eminent domain is potential IDA tool
Citing state law that gives local industrial development agencies the right to use eminent domain for public purposes, Greene County IDA Executive Director Alexander “Sandy” Mathes revealed that it could be used right here in Greene County.   More

April 22, 2009
Associated Press
NYC: Plans to develop near Mets' stadium on track
The red brick arches on the facade of the New York Mets' new stadium rise stories above a pristine plaza of plants, bushes and walkways, encasing the baseball team's $850 million playground...   More

April 21, 2009
The Daily Herald
Des Plaines considers redevelopment options
The Des Plaines city council Monday approved a memorandum of understanding with Cleveland-based Forest City Enterprises, formalizing the city's intent to make it the master developer for the 70-acre Five Corners taxing district.   More

April 20, 2009
Indianapolis Star
Speedway revitalization or intrusion?
One hundred years after opening, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is celebrating the dreams of its founders. This also might be the year that the dreams of some of the businesses around the track come to an end.   More

April 19, 2009
The New York Times
Spotlight Finds Eminent Domain Crusader
OVER many years, Susette Kelo stood up against corporate power and New London officials, and became known around the country as the woman who couldn’t be moved.    More

April 14, 2009
The Sun Chronicle (Attleboro, Mass.)
Ross files bill in support of land rights; Idea is to stop eminent domain being used for private developers
State Rep. Richard Ross has filed a bill that would prohibit the government from taking property by eminent domain in order to give it to another private developer.   More

April 10, 2009
The News Journal
Auto-repair shop owner took on City Hall and won
Gov. Jack Markell signed Senate Bill 7 into law Thursday, then gave the pen he used to bolster private property rights for all Delawareans to state Rep. Dennis P. Williams, D-Wilmington North. "Make sure this pen gets to Ed Osborne," Markell told Williams   More

April 8, 2009
Gloucester County Times
Fear of Broad Street bullies: Eminent domain a topic of Woodbury residents
Eminent domain was the hot topic at a city planning/zoning board meeting this week, with residents raising concerns over losing their homes to redevelopment.    More

April 7, 2009
The Stamford Advocate
Rell, legislative Democrats proposing eliminating state eminent domain watchdog
Four years after the state and the nation were outraged by a Supreme Court ruling that allowed New London to take homes for private development, Connecticut lawmakers are poised to undo one of the key eminent domain reforms resulting from that case.    More

April 6, 2009
The Chronicle-Telegram
Renewal plan gets look from Lorain Council
The Lorain City Council is expected today to consider a new urban renewal plan created to lure new business to Lorain and redevelop the waterfront along Black River.   More

April 3, 2009
The News-Journal
Del. puts brakes on eminent domain
The state House stood firmly on the side of property owners' rights Thursday and unanimously approved legislation to make it more difficult for governments statewide to use eminent domain for economic development.   More

April 2, 2009

Reps. Waters & Sensenbrenner Introduce Private Property Rights Protection Act
Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) and Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) today introduced H.R. 1855. the Private Property Protection Act of 2009, legislation that would restore property rights that the Supreme Court changed in its controversial 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London.   More