CityWorks in the Press
Poll: Don't Seize Homes For Private Development
But eminent domain OK for schools, open space
Published in the Asbury Park Press 10/5/05
BY BILL BOWMAN
STAFF WRITER
To say Josephine Vendetti hates the use of eminent domain is an understatement.
"It's ridiculous," said Vendetti, 75, who has lived in her Ocean Terrace home in Long Branch with her husband, Carmen, for 45 years. "To let somebody else live where you live."
Vendetti and several neighbors who live east of Ocean Boulevard recently received notices from the city that they need to negotiate a price for their property or face losing it in eminent domain proceedings.
The city wants the land to build about 185 condominiums as part of its Beachfront North Phase II development.
Vendetti is not alone; many New Jerseyans expressed a distaste for eminent domain, according to a newly released poll by Monmouth University and the Gannett New Jersey newspapers.
Of those who said they have heard "a lot" about eminent domain - the power given to governments to take private land - overwhelming majorities said it is being abused. The power, they said, benefits only private developers.
For example, about nine of every 10 adults who know the issue say it is wrong to take low-value homes to build a shopping center. A similar majority - 86 percent - say it is wrong to bulldoze a low-value home in order to replace it with a higher-value unit.
But 88 percent said it was OK to take vacant and run-down buildings to build a school, while 65 percent said it was OK to take land from a developer to preserve open space.
"New Jerseyans seem to feel that such broad power in the hands of local officials can lead to misuse," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.
Overall, 29 percent of New Jersey adults said they had heard "a lot" about the issue, while 31 percent said they had heard "a little" and 40 percent said they had heard nothing at all about it.
Eminent domain is the power invested in government to take property - for what is called fair compensation - so that it can be used for "the public good."
In the past, "public good" has meant new roads, schools or municipal buildings, but in the past few years it has taken on an added dimension: economic development.
Case went to top court
The legality of taking land for economic redevelopment was upheld this year by the U.S. Supreme Court. That has allowed Long Branch, Asbury Park and Neptune to continue to use, or make plans to use, eminent domain for their own redevelopment purposes.
Long Branch is about 10 years into the redevelopment of about 230 acres along Ocean Boulevard and up Broadway to about city hall. When completed, about $1 billion in developers' and the city's money will have been invested in the area, officials have said.
Long Branch's redevelopment, as well as efforts in Asbury Park and Neptune, is a mixture of residential and retail construction.
Asbury Park is about five years into its efforts to redevelop the oceanfront and downtown. City Manager Terrence Reidy has said that the $1.3 billion waterfront redevelopment will result in more than 3,500 housing units, while the downtown redevelopment will result in more than 400,000 square feet of retail space, with some residential components.
Neptune has just embarked on the first phase of its Midtown redevelopment with the demolition of a township-owned building on West Lake Avenue. The project's redeveloper is Trenton-based CityWorks, a not-for-profit group formed expressly to work with local organizations to aid in urban redevelopment.
About 55 percent of those polled who said they know a lot about the issue said that eminent domain was being used too much in New Jersey, while 6 percent said it was not being used enough and 21 percent said it was being used just enough.
An overwhelming majority of those who say they've heard a lot about the issue - 81 percent - said that private developers benefit more from eminent domain, while 14 percent said local communities benefit. And 75 percent of those who say they follow the issue said property owners do not receive a fair price for their property, while 15 percent said they did.
Moratorium favored
A majority of New Jersey adults who follow the eminent domain issue - 75 percent - also said there should be a temporary moratorium on its use until solid guidelines can be developed. Twelve percent opposed that idea.
In the end, New Jersey adults believe that property owners ought to have final say over what is done with their property.
Among all residents, including those who have heard little or nothing about the issue, 76 percent say private developers benefit the most from eminent domain.
New Jerseyans' opposition to the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes is not surprising, said Dana Berliner, senior attorney at the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice.
"The only people who support the use of eminent domain for private development are cities that use it, developers and businesses that benefit from it, and planners who plan it. Everyone else hates it," said Berliner, who was co-counsel for property owners in New London, Conn., who lost their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"That crosses all political lines - it is practically universal," she said. "The idea that you can work hard and save and finally buy something and have it taken from you because somebody else richer can make more money off of that land makes a mockery of what everyone is striving for."
For Vendetti of Long Branch, losing her home also means losing decades of memories.
"I lost two sons, and their memories are here," she said. "My grandchildren come every Friday night. These are happy memories."
The most recent Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey Poll was conducted by telephone with 800 New Jersey adults from Sept. 21 to 26, 2005. The poll numbers for all adults have a margin of error of 3.5 percent, while the poll numbers for those who say they have heard a lot about eminent domain have a margin of error of 5.8 percent.
Gannett New Jersey newspapers are the Asbury Park Press, the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill, the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick, the Courier News of Bridgewater, The Daily Journal of Vineland, the Daily Record of Parsippany and the Ocean County Observer of Toms River.
But eminent domain OK for schools, open space
Published in the Asbury Park Press 10/5/05
BY BILL BOWMAN
STAFF WRITER
To say Josephine Vendetti hates the use of eminent domain is an understatement.
"It's ridiculous," said Vendetti, 75, who has lived in her Ocean Terrace home in Long Branch with her husband, Carmen, for 45 years. "To let somebody else live where you live."
Vendetti and several neighbors who live east of Ocean Boulevard recently received notices from the city that they need to negotiate a price for their property or face losing it in eminent domain proceedings.
The city wants the land to build about 185 condominiums as part of its Beachfront North Phase II development.
Vendetti is not alone; many New Jerseyans expressed a distaste for eminent domain, according to a newly released poll by Monmouth University and the Gannett New Jersey newspapers.
Of those who said they have heard "a lot" about eminent domain - the power given to governments to take private land - overwhelming majorities said it is being abused. The power, they said, benefits only private developers.
For example, about nine of every 10 adults who know the issue say it is wrong to take low-value homes to build a shopping center. A similar majority - 86 percent - say it is wrong to bulldoze a low-value home in order to replace it with a higher-value unit.
But 88 percent said it was OK to take vacant and run-down buildings to build a school, while 65 percent said it was OK to take land from a developer to preserve open space.
"New Jerseyans seem to feel that such broad power in the hands of local officials can lead to misuse," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute.
Overall, 29 percent of New Jersey adults said they had heard "a lot" about the issue, while 31 percent said they had heard "a little" and 40 percent said they had heard nothing at all about it.
Eminent domain is the power invested in government to take property - for what is called fair compensation - so that it can be used for "the public good."
In the past, "public good" has meant new roads, schools or municipal buildings, but in the past few years it has taken on an added dimension: economic development.
Case went to top court
The legality of taking land for economic redevelopment was upheld this year by the U.S. Supreme Court. That has allowed Long Branch, Asbury Park and Neptune to continue to use, or make plans to use, eminent domain for their own redevelopment purposes.
Long Branch is about 10 years into the redevelopment of about 230 acres along Ocean Boulevard and up Broadway to about city hall. When completed, about $1 billion in developers' and the city's money will have been invested in the area, officials have said.
Long Branch's redevelopment, as well as efforts in Asbury Park and Neptune, is a mixture of residential and retail construction.
Asbury Park is about five years into its efforts to redevelop the oceanfront and downtown. City Manager Terrence Reidy has said that the $1.3 billion waterfront redevelopment will result in more than 3,500 housing units, while the downtown redevelopment will result in more than 400,000 square feet of retail space, with some residential components.
Neptune has just embarked on the first phase of its Midtown redevelopment with the demolition of a township-owned building on West Lake Avenue. The project's redeveloper is Trenton-based CityWorks, a not-for-profit group formed expressly to work with local organizations to aid in urban redevelopment.
About 55 percent of those polled who said they know a lot about the issue said that eminent domain was being used too much in New Jersey, while 6 percent said it was not being used enough and 21 percent said it was being used just enough.
An overwhelming majority of those who say they've heard a lot about the issue - 81 percent - said that private developers benefit more from eminent domain, while 14 percent said local communities benefit. And 75 percent of those who say they follow the issue said property owners do not receive a fair price for their property, while 15 percent said they did.
Moratorium favored
A majority of New Jersey adults who follow the eminent domain issue - 75 percent - also said there should be a temporary moratorium on its use until solid guidelines can be developed. Twelve percent opposed that idea.
In the end, New Jersey adults believe that property owners ought to have final say over what is done with their property.
Among all residents, including those who have heard little or nothing about the issue, 76 percent say private developers benefit the most from eminent domain.
New Jerseyans' opposition to the use of eminent domain for economic development purposes is not surprising, said Dana Berliner, senior attorney at the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Justice.
"The only people who support the use of eminent domain for private development are cities that use it, developers and businesses that benefit from it, and planners who plan it. Everyone else hates it," said Berliner, who was co-counsel for property owners in New London, Conn., who lost their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
"That crosses all political lines - it is practically universal," she said. "The idea that you can work hard and save and finally buy something and have it taken from you because somebody else richer can make more money off of that land makes a mockery of what everyone is striving for."
For Vendetti of Long Branch, losing her home also means losing decades of memories.
"I lost two sons, and their memories are here," she said. "My grandchildren come every Friday night. These are happy memories."
The most recent Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey Poll was conducted by telephone with 800 New Jersey adults from Sept. 21 to 26, 2005. The poll numbers for all adults have a margin of error of 3.5 percent, while the poll numbers for those who say they have heard a lot about eminent domain have a margin of error of 5.8 percent.
Gannett New Jersey newspapers are the Asbury Park Press, the Courier-Post of Cherry Hill, the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick, the Courier News of Bridgewater, The Daily Journal of Vineland, the Daily Record of Parsippany and the Ocean County Observer of Toms River.
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