Public Use | Kelo

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Michael Galinsky, Suki Hawley, and David Beilinson, the makers of “Battle of Brooklyn,” a documentary about the controversial Atlantic Yards project, screened a rough cut of their film last night at the American Law Institute-American Bar Association’s eminent domain law conference. It’s an inside look at one property owner at the business end of eminent domain.

This morning, I had a chance to sit down briefly with Michael in the lobby of the Hyatt Coral Gables and talk about what brought this film about. 

(24 minutes)

Stream the podcast above, or download it here (33mb mp3).

Here’s a summary of “Battle of Brooklyn” —

The film is the only intimate look at the very public and passionate fight waged by owners and residents facing condemnation of their property to make way for the controversial Atlantic Yards Project, a massive plan to build 16 skyscrapers and a basketball…

Continue Reading Interview With The Filmmaker: Michael Galinsky On “Battle of Brooklyn”

AliabaAt today’s ALI-ABA annual conference on eminent domain law in Coral Gables, Florida, Tony Della Pelle (NJ Condemnation Law blog) and I (in a session moderated by Nancy Myrland) presented “The ‘Social’ Lawyer: New Media Strategies for Marketing Your Eminent Domain Practice,” about how eminent domain attorneys can use social media for business development or simply to keep up on the latest cases. For those of you who were with us in person or on the webcast, here are some of our favorite law blogs. And, if you couldn’t join us, you really should consider it next year since the conference features stellar faculty, all experts in the field of condemnation and eminent domain law.

These are the essential blogs in our area of practice:

  • Gideon’s Trumpet – this blog, published by Gideon Kanner, is the equivalent of a nonstop eminent domain conference, since Gideon shares his

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Continue Reading Eminent Domain & Property Law Blogs From Today’s ALI-ABA Session

There are some cases where, after reading the majority and dissenting opinions, you understand that the judges are on the same page but just have a differing view of the law. However, there are opinions where there seems to be a severe disconnect between the majority and dissent because they address different arguments and advance completely different “narratives” (to use the current parlance).

We don’t know if that’s what led the Texas Supreme Court to accept review of Texas Rice Land Partners, Ltd. v. Denbury Green Pipeline-Texas LLC, No. 09-09-002-CV (Tex. Ct. App. Sep. 24, 2009) last week, since the issue as recounted by the court of appeals’ majority opinion dealt with the seemingly straightforward question of whether a carbon dioxide pipeline operator qualified as a common carrier because it completed the statutory steps, and consequently could exercise the power of eminent domain. The dissenting opinion disagreed, but not…

Continue Reading https://inversecondemnation.lexblogplatformfour.com/2011/02/texas-supreme-court-to-hear-case-on-common-carrier-status-and-private-takings.html

The makers of “Battle of Brooklyn,” a documentary about the controversial Atlantic Yards project, will present preview screengs of their film later this week at the upcoming American Law Institute-American Bar Association’s eminent domain law conference (Eminent Domain and Land Valuation Litigation, and Condemnation 101: Making the Complex Simple in Eminent Domain,) in Coral Gables, Florida. Here’s a summary:

The film is a close-range look at the fight to stop condemnation waged by property owners and residents living in the footprint of the Atlantic Yards Project, a massive real estate development proposal to build 16 skyscrapers and a basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets in the heart of  Brooklyn. 

Daniel Goldstein’s apartment sits at what would be center court of the new arena.  He is dragged into the fight because he simply can’t believe that the government should use the power of Eminent Domain to take his property and hand it…

Continue Reading Preview Of Eminent Domain Doc “Battle of Brooklyn”

Readers: are you planning on attending tomorrow’s eminent domain conference at Fordham Law? Details here.

The agenda and faculty look very good. Speakers include Associate Justice James Catterson (N.Y. Appellate Division) (who wrote recently, “Unfortunately for the rights of the citizens affected by the proposed condemnation, the recent rulings of the Court of Appeals … have made plain that there is no longer any judicial oversight of eminent domain proceedings.”), Professors Steven Eagle and Ilya Somin (GMU), and Amy Lavine (Albany Law Gov’t Law Center).

We wish we could attend, but we are engaged elsewhere. If you do attend, might we prevail on you to provide a report? If you are so inclined, send it to us and we will post it (let us know whether you’d like attribution, or would prefer to remain uncredited).Continue Reading Fordham Conference – Taking New York: The Opportunities, Challenges, and Dangers posed by the Use of Eminent Domain in New York (2/22/2011)

George Mason U. lawprof Steven J. Eagle is familiar to regular readers of this blog for authoring the seminal treatise Regulatory Takings, now in its fourth edition. Talk takings and you will invariably be dealing with his scholarship.

Here’s the latest: Professor Eagle has recently posted a new paper, “Urban Revitalization and Eminent Domain: Misinterpreting Jane Jacobs” on SSRN. The abstract:

This article reviews the implications for land use policy of Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities. Fifty years after its publication in 1961, Death and Life remains a clarion call for resistance to monolithic development and to the reigning paradigm of urban planning in the mid-20th century. The article asserts, however, that government officials and planners have learned the wrong lesson from Jacobs. Their emphasis on the top-down imposition of what purports to be varied development is evident in the growth…

Continue Reading New Article: Urban Revitalization and Eminent Domain: Misinterpreting Jane Jacobs

For anyone not watching the game, here’s your Sunday fix of items that do not involve football:

  • The Institute for Justice — the good people who represented Mrs. Kelo in Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005) — have posted this short video entitled “Kelo v. City of New London: Judicial Abdication in Action.” Money quote: “What does Fort Trumbull look like today? Today, the Fort Trumbull neighborhood is a barren wasteland.”
  • The New York Times (itself the corporate beneficiary of eminent domain), posts the story “Blighted Area? These Business Owners Beg to Differ,” about the latest case of alleged “blight” and redevelopment in New York City, this time from East Harlem. Unless there is something here that we’re missing, New York’s law of blight and public use are so skewed in favor of the condemnor as recently reaffirmed in the

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Continue Reading Super Bowl Sunday Links

Check this out. The Hawaii Legislature is considering a bill requiring the State and the counties to take private roads, waterways, and water courses “upon request” of an adjacent landowner:

(a) Upon request by the owner of land adjacent to a privately owned highway, waterway, or watercourse, the State shall initiate condemnation proceedings for a public purpose pursuant to section 101-2, unless the State makes a written determination that a county is the more appropriate jurisdiction to initiate condemnation proceedings on the private property. For the purposes of this section “private property” means a privately owned highway, waterway, or water course.

(b) If the State declines to exercise its power of eminent domain to condemn the private property pursuant to subsection (a), then the county in which the private property is located shall initiate condemnation proceedings pursuant to section 101-14.

(c) In fixing the compensation to be paid for condemnation…

Continue Reading Hawaii Legislature Considering A Bill Requiring State Or Counties To Take Private Roads Upon Request By Adjacent Landowner