Full text: Click here: Now You Own It, Soon You Don't? - New York Times <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/29/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/29RDOMAIN.h\ tml?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=nyregionspecial2&pagewanted=all> Excerpts: Last month, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that the Town of Paulsboro had overreached in relying on a consultant's determination that an undeveloped 63-acre parcel could be condemned because it was "not fully productive."
A bill that would more narrowly define blight passed the New Jersey State Assembly last year but has been tied up in a State Senate committee since. The New Jersey League of Municipalities opposes limiting the power of municipalities in using eminent domain. Its opinion carries weight in a state with 566 municipalities, a strong tradition of home rule, and one in which many legislators are also mayors of their hometowns. The state's public advocate, Ronald K. Chen, said a 1992 revision of the state statute created the "not fully productive" justification that "opened up the floodgates" for the improper use of eminent domain. Mr. Chen's office recently issued a report that listed the plan in Long Branch, where Ms. Vendetti lives near the beach, under the heading "Bogus Blight." It said the town based its conclusion on "superficial" exterior inspections that noted deteriorating paint or chipped masonry. Nothing appears to be decrepit about the Vendettis' homes. Carmen Vendetti, 80, had saved his money driving a truck to buy his family, in 1960, a modest respite from the harsher environs of their home in Newark. He and his wife, Josephine, moved there full time after he retired. Ms. Vendetti saved her money from a job with Amtrak and bought a house across the street from her parents in 1995. Two months later, she attended a meeting where a developer's model of the neighborhood showed luxury buildings all along the oceanfront. "They had a house on my lot," she said. "I just laughed and thought, `How are they going to do that?' No one ever used the words `eminent domain.' " But Adam Schneider, the mayor of Long Branch for 17 years, said some in the area ignored the redevelopment plan, thinking it would fail, as had many before. Some homeowners have accepted offers of units made affordable to them in the new development, he said. He said that with just 20 percent of the construction completed, the beachfront has been transformed from a dangerous area of boarded-up storefronts to an upscale, year-round destination that includes packed restaurants and a popular park. He said he thought the recent emotional backlash may dissuade officials in other areas from even trying such a sweeping turnaround using eminent domain. "Politically it won't work anymore," he said. "I think the time has come and gone."
