Back at the City Council hearing it wasn't clear from EDC Senior Vice President Kate Collignon’s response, but Councilmember James asserted later that, in the case of the Duffield Street houses, they didn’t. And EDC spokesperson Yonit Golub couldn’t say one way or another regarding Willets Point.
According to Bova-Hiatt, the procedures governing the municipal use of eminent domain are different depending on the reasons invoked, but in the case of the downtown Brooklyn and Willets Point plans they work like this: Based on assessments of the area’s economic and environmental condition, HPD designates “an urban renewal area,” which is akin to calling the district “depressed” or “blighted.” The urban renewal designation goes through the city’s public planning process, so the City Council and local community board members get to vote on it.
Bova-Hiatt said that, unlike in Kelo v. New London, purely economic development takings are already illegal in New York state. Here, there has to be a determination of blight, though “what constitutes blight is an important subject of discussion,” she acknowledged. “It really depends on the locale.”
One thing is perfectly clear, however: The EDC doesn’t have to wait on HPD before spending time and money on plans that ultimately rely on the government’s power of eminent domain. Last summer, for instance, they went so far as to invite bids from private developers for the Willets Point peninsula, even though the land was still in private hands and no urban renewal designation had been issued. According to Angotti, this is a significant privilege, because “once you’ve created the threat of eminent domain, you’ve already set in motion land speculation – it has the effect of encouraging land assembly of the property” – and turning back becomes that much more difficult.
State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D-Westchester) has introduced an eminent domain reform bill that would address some of these issues. If passed, the bill would create an eminent domain ombudsman to help owners of condemned land navigate their legal options; increase compensation from the market-rate value of their land to 150 to 200 percent of that value, in order to account for the private developer’s expected profits; and, as Merrill suggested, it would require all condemnations to cross the desks of elected officials, instead of those of unelected bureaucrats. When asked about the bill’s current status, Brodsky reported cheerfully: "It’s bottled up in the judiciary committee, but we’re trying to get it out of there as fast as possible.”
As yet, however, the one thing the new bill doesn’t require is the one thing that could make a difference for those Duffield Street homeowners: a public weighing of the costs and benefits of a “grassy knoll” versus a museum dedicated to Brooklyn’s role in the Underground Railroad. As Joy Chatel, a Duffield Street homeowner who’s been fighting the city’s downtown Brooklyn plan, told a group of protesters and reporters: “This is not just about black history but New York history, American history. Sometimes we just need to accept what is." Although HPD plans to discuss the acquisitions at a hearing on May 22, the city's impending use of eminent domain appears to be beyond the control of elected representatives – or citizens.
This story has been corrected. 5/21/07
