PRESS RELEASE / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE / PRESS RELEASE
At an all day citizens forum on eminent domain abuse held in Princeton on Saturday, February 18, 2006, representatives from throughout New Jersey voted unanimously to establish the "New Jersey Coalition Against Eminent Domain Abuse."
Among the 75 (approx.) people who attended the conference, hosted by the Princeton Justice Project (a Princeton University undergraduate student group), were representatives from 3 states (New Jersey, New York, Pa.) and 25 New Jersey municipalities which have active "redevelopment" projects underway that threaten the eminent domain taking of homes and businesses, including farms.
Among the 25 New Jersey municipalities represented in the Coalition are Camden, Carteret, Trenton, Long Branch, Asbury Park, Somers Point, Highland Park, Lodi, Bound Brook, Westmont, Moorestown, Ventnor, Wildwood, West Windsor, Burlington, Mount Holly, Pennsauken, Linden, Neptune,
Riverton, Piscataway, and Maplewood. From Pennsylvania are representatives from Philadelphia and Coatesville, as well as New York City.
The Coalition agreed on an initial set of "goals" and "action items" as follows;
1. MORATORIUM NOW:
Either the Governor by executive order or the Legislature by statute must impose an immediate moratorium on any further eminent domain takings of property that have been swept into broadly conceived "redevelopment areas" and include residential properties (both owner occupied and rental) and local businesses.
The Coalition is aware of several examples of egregious and cruel eminent domain abuse such as the following:
-- the proposal to place the entire City of Camden in a redevelopment zone, including an attack on the Cramer Hill neighborhood, which threatens to displace 1,200 low and moderate income, mostly black and Hispanic households from the neighborhood,.
-- the plan to remove residents, including retirees on fixed incomes, living in Long Branch, Asbury Park and Neptune City to make way for upper income limited condominiums by the ocean front.
-- the taking of active farmland in Piscataway to make way for intensive development
-- and many others.
2. REFORM THE "REDEVELOPMENT LAWS" TO PREVENT ABUSE:
The 1992 "Local Redevelopment and Housing Law" (LRHL) is being used by more than 65 municipalities across the state, with more added each week, to declare homes and businesses "redevelopment areas" which is the legalized euphemism for "blighted areas" when these sites and areas are not in fact sources of blight.
As a result of the "redevelopment area" designation municipalities obtain near dictatorial powers over local residents, taxpayers and businesses.
These powers include
-- power of eminent domain for "economic development" purposes, meaning take the land and buildings, pay what is called "just compensation" to the owners (even if it is but a fraction of the market value and not enough for the residents to purchase replacement housing nearby or within the area as redeveloped), evict the residents, and then transfer the property to a "redeveloper" who has been selected by the municipality without competitive bidding
-- destruction of thousands of units of low and moderate housing, notwithstanding New Jersey's strong "Mount Laurel" doctrine
-- avoidance of competitive bidding laws which open the door to "pay to play" favoritism and worse
-- passage of costly bond issues to pay for the redevelopment and without referendum even if voters obtain the required number of petition signatures, and
-- granting of long term "tax abatements" to the new private development which means the project, no matter how profitable, will not pay for school taxes or county taxes.
For further discussion of the Coalition, please feel free to speak with the person who is handing out this press release or contact the state coordinator, Bill Potter at Potter & Dickson, 609-921-9555 or email at "pot
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