Corporate Welfare: For The Good of the Public
Posted: September 29th, 2009 | Author: Chris Jirau | Filed under: Current Events, Political & Social Issue | Tags: Bruce Ratner, condemnation, corporate welfare, Dana Berliner, eminent domain, Empire State Development, Forest City Ratner Companies, Goldwater Institute, Gustav Peebles, Institute of Justice, Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University, Mark Brnovich, Mark S. Rosentraub, New Jersey Nets, New York City, New York City Economic Development Corporation, Professor Roger Noll, public use, Robert Moses, Stanford University, The New York Stock Exchange, The New York Times, urban renewal | No Comments »Not since the days of Robert Moses has the use of eminent domain been such a relevant issue amongst residents of New York City. The controversial New York state and municipal official who determined public works projects of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, helped transform the urban setting of New York City, constructing such public works projects as the Triborough Bridge, the West Side Highway, Shea Stadium and Lincoln Center; but not without scrutiny.
Though Moses erected numerous important parkways, bridges, and tunnels linking the boroughs of New York City, as well as building hundreds of new playgrounds and parks that we now appreciate, by the late Fifties, there was a strong public reaction to Moses and his aggressive urban reconstruction. He resigned from his city positions in 1959.
Through condemnation and eminent domain, planners, architects, engineers and investors are able to attain pre-occupied land in agreement that it is for “public use.”
Condemnation is the declaration of land as being exchangeable to public use under the right of eminent domain. Eminent domain is the right of a government to take private property for public use by virtue of the superior dominion of the sovereign power over all lands within its jurisdiction. In other words, the government has the ability to seize land as long as the public has the ability to benefit from it. Resistance is futile.
