November 24, 2009
NY State Court OKs stealing private property for sports stadium

Posted at 3:45 pm, in: Private Property
Tags: Conn, Kelo v. New London, SCOTUS

I don’t care what the Supreme Court ruled in Kelo (2005), this is definitely unconstitional:

New York’s highest court ruled Tuesday that it’s lawful for a state economic development agency to seize private land to build an arena for a professional basketball team.

The 6-1 ruling by the New York State Court of Appeals allows the contentious $4.9 billion, 22-acre Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, N.Y., to proceed. The proposed development includes office towers, apartments and a new arena for the NBA’s New Jersey Nets.

It’s a victory for developers and government entities in New York that have sought to boost local economies with new development. But it is a blow to private-property owners who have argued that they are defenseless in protecting their ownership rights if a government deems their land necessary for eminent domain, or the “public good.”

Protecting private property is one of the jobs our government is supposed to be doing, unlike the other garbage they like to do like stimulus bills that don’t stimulate. The Supreme Court was wrong in their Kelo decision and the New York State Court is wrong with this one. It all sounds harmless…until its your property they take for the purpose of the “public good.”