Thank you Jim Keady, who made the time to speak at the Asbury Park news conference in front of city hall and march in the Long Branch rally. Thank you and Ed Johnson support and speaking out against the evils of eminent domain when it is used to enrich developers for private gain. Thanks to all who made the press conferance a success.Even Jim Bruno was at the conferance, only to tell Kerry that we did not belong there and to make faces at Keady. I wonder why the city manager, the mayor and the other two conciul men did not offer to speak at this news conferrance. How come Ms Jewals was not taking pictures for the city. Larry Fishman and Asbury Partners have loyal friends ..............................................PROTESTS HELD: In Long Branch, Asbury ParkACTIVIST: Decries "terrible, immoral movement by government'Rallies condemn property taking
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 06/24/06BY CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS AND ANDREA ALEXANDERSTAFF WRITERS LONG BRANCH — It was not a good date for property rights. Friday was the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in a Connecticut case — called the Kelo decision after Susette Kelo, who fought efforts to take her home for redevelopment in New London — that affirmed the government's right to take private property for economic development. But in the year that followed, said speakers at protest rallies here and in Asbury Park to mark the date, the nation has become galvanized to stop the use of eminent domain — the government's right to take private property for a public purpose — to benefit other private individuals, such as developers. "One of the great things about this movement is it brings us together to fight a terrible, immoral movement by government," Bill Potter, who runs the New Jersey Coalition Against Eminent Domain Abuse, said at a rally in the Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace and Seaview Avenue (MTOTSA) area of Long Branch that has become the symbol of the eminent domain controversy here. "You're trying to live the American dream the way it is supposed to be lived," Potter said. More than 100 people showed up at the evening Long Branch rally, carrying signs that read "Enough is Enough," "K. Hovnanian, Leave Us Alone," referring to the regional developer that is tied to the city's redevelopment, and "Stop, Stop, Stop." The event drew people from Trenton, Lodi, Piscataway, Newark, Bound Brook, Asbury Park and Neptune. About 20 people attended the midday Asbury Park rally, including those from Neptune and Long Branch. Asbury Park Councilman James Keady called for a statewide moratorium on eminent domain abuse. He said city officials voted to take property "without just compensation." "It is not for the good of Asbury Park," Keady said. "It is for the good of out-of-town developers who are going to reap millions." Kerry Butch, 41, of Asbury Park, an organizer of the earlier rally, called the use of eminent domain for redevelopment projects "immoral, unjust" and "absolutely wrong." After the rally, Asbury Park Deputy Mayor James Bruno defended the city's redevelopment plan and said the majority of the council is committed to the agreement. "This is for the betterment of the entire city," Bruno said. Many of the city's critics "don't know how it was through the '80s and '90s," Bruno said. "It was a blighted area and we had to do something that would save this city." Friday was also a day when Long Branch Mayor Adam Schneider again offered to negotiate with full-time residents interested in acquiring condominiums in the new oceanfront development that some homeowners say is unfairly displacing them. Schneider said he talked with Gregory S. Russo, vice president of Applied Development Co. of Hoboken. The company and Matzel & Mumford, a subsidiary of K. Hovnanian, make up MM-Beachfront North II LLC, the redeveloper of the second phase of Beachfront North. The condo offer remains on the table, he said. "Absolutely," Schneider said. "We've felt from the beginning of the process — going back a dozen years — people who lived down there, we'd like to keep them on the oceanfront the best we can . . . We'd be willing to sit down and see if we can make that work." Schneider reaffirmed the offer one day after the city prevailed in a bitter court battle with MTOTSA property owners over the right to take their properties. "We will not stop here," William Giordano of MTOTSA said. "We will fight on." For Louis T. Anzalone, the condominium offer holds no appeal. "Tell the mayor I don't want no condo," Anzalone said Friday night. "I don't want to go into a tenement on high." Superior Court Judge Lawrence M. Lawson in his decision Thursday had questioned whether the residents had engaged in "good faith" negotiations after they had accused the city of failing to do the same. "Negotiations are a two-way street," Lawson wrote. "Where, as here, the condemnees make it clear that they do not intend to sell their properties, negotiations are rendered a practical impossibility. Thus, the court cannot find that the city failed to engage in bona fide negotiations." Lawson's decision involves a number of MTOTSA property owners: Gregory P. Brower, Francis T. DeLuca, Alan A. Cook, Louis T. and Lillian Anzalone, the estate of Elsa DeFaria, Richard and Peter Squirlock, Albert A. Viviano, Ellen Eagan and Jean Sadenwater, Mary and Marino Milano, Carmen and Josephine Vendetti and Joyce and Philip Melillo. Lawson did not grant the homeowners' request for a stay of the decision pending an appeal, and City Attorney James G. Aaron said the city filed a motion Friday to appoint commissioners to establish the value of the disputed properties. The judge generally has between 90 and 120 days to appoint three commissioners who will determine the fair market value of the properties, although because there are so many hearings at issue here, the judge could take longer, Aaron said. But because there is no stay of the decision, the city could move immediately to take the homes. "From a legal position, the decision is pretty well bullet-proof," Aaron said. "The judge's findings are so strong, it is going to be very hard to overturn . . . When a lawyer takes a look at this, they are going to say, "Oh, my goodness, this is a very strong decision.' " William J. Ward, the Florham Park attorney who represents MTOTSA residents DeLuca and Anzalone, said the decision "basically slam-dunked us on everything." Even so, he believes the decision can be appealed, and he vowed to do so. The basis of the appeal will likely include the conflicts of interest issues that Lawson dismissed — allegations of favoritism by Aaron's law firm because it had represented K. Hovnanian, and by the law firm of Arthur Greenbaum, who has served on the board of directors for K. Hovnanian since 1992. Greenbaum's firm served as redevelopment counsel for the city. Ward called the conflict issue "blatant and startling. If we get a three-judge panel to look at it, they are going to be shocked." Ward also said he would challenge the aspect of the decision that says the homeowners did not timely challenge the redevelopment designation in 1996, waiting 10 years to go to court. Scott G. Bullock of the Institute for Justice, the Washington, D.C.-based group that focuses on individual and property rights, said Lawson's ruling is "an incredibly poorly reasoned decision and one that lends itself very well to appeal." Bullock argued the Connecticut case before the U.S. Supreme Court, and the institute helped write the briefs in the Long Branch case. He said Lawson's not taking a position on MTOTSA's contention that the redeveloper has an inappropriate role in the process — the right to reject payment greater than the fair market value to a homeowner — shows how flawed the decision is. "This cannot stand as law in New Jersey," Bullock said. Assemblyman Michael J. Panter, D-Monmouth, attended the Long Branch rally, a day after he voted against the eminent domain bill sponsored by Assemblyman John J. Burzichelli, D-Gloucester, that was nonetheless approved by the Assembly Thursday. Critics say it does not go far enough in protecting property owners. Panter said the original Kelo decision "opened a candy store for politically connected developers and it is a candy store we have to shut down . . . . The government should never be taking away property to give to someone else." For Harold Bobrow, whose seasonal home in the city's Beachfront South section is threatened by eminent domain, the decision by Lawson is difficult to accept. "He may be legally correct, but he is certainly not morally correct," Bobrow said. (STAFF PHOTO: BOB BIELK)
Dorothy Argyros makes her feelings known at a rally Friday in Asbury Park protesting the use of eminent domain. (STAFF PHOTO: BOB BIELK)
Dr. Robert Sorge, owner of Abunda Life, speaks at the Asbury Park rally. RELATED PHOTO GALLERIES
• Rally against eminent domain abuse RELATED LINKS
__._,_.___
• Private Property/Public Gain: The Battle over Eminent Domain • Video: Rally of property owners affected by eminent domain (Dial-up) • Video: Rally of property owners affected by eminent domain (Broadband)
SPONSORED LINKS
YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
|
