Eminent Domain Abuse

That nest of radical vipers, Columbia University, is abusing eminent domain for its own gain.

Reason has published Damon Root's account of the tribulations a Mr. Nick Sprayregen has suffered thanks to Columbia's despicable tactics.

I quote at length because it really is unbelievable hypocritical (and yet unsurprising) that an American university would sink to this scummy level.

Each of Sprayregen's buildings is kept in pristine condition. But Columbia wants his land. So the university has been working with the state of New York to have the neighborhood declared "blighted." If that designation is made, the government will be able to take Sprayregen's well-kept property and hand it over to the university, which owns the run-down buildings. And only then, when they have their neighbor's land, does Columbia promise to clean up its act and make Manhattanville nice again.

Back in September, Sprayregen wrote a very good op-ed for The Wall Street Journal describing some of the university's more despicable tactics:
Under New York state law, in order to condemn property the state first has to undertake a "neighborhood conditions study" and declare the area in question "blighted." Earlier this summer the state released its study, which concluded that Manhattanville is indeed "blighted." This gives the state the legal green light to condemn my four buildings and hand them over to the university.

The study's conclusion was unsurprising. Since the commencement of acquisitions in Manhattanville by Columbia, the school has made a solid effort to create the appearance of "blight." Once active buildings became vacant as Columbia either refused to renew leases, pressured small businesses to vacate, or made unreasonable demands that resulted in the businesses moving elsewhere. Columbia also let their holdings decay and left code violations unaddressed.

Feel free to contact Columbia University and let them know that such abuse of Eminent Domain should not go unpunished.

Lee Bollinger
Office of the President
202 Low Library
535 West 116th Street, Mail Code 4309
New York, NY 10027


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