▪ Eminent Domain Update from the NY Times

The NY Times posts "Now You Own It, Soon You Don't?," a story about property owners fighting eminent domain abuse in Long Branch, NJ, Norwalk, CT, and Port Chester, NY, among other places.  The article also details the legislative responses to the Kelo case, focusing on the eastern states:

The lead plaintiff in the United States Supreme Court case, Susette Kelo, a nurse who lived in a pink Victorian cottage in New London, Conn., opposed the town’s condemnation of her neighborhood to make way for a private development of offices, condominiums and a hotel. The 5-to-4 majority opinion held that promoting economic development met the “public use” clause of the Fifth Amendment that allows condemnations. In a dissenting opinion in the case, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor gave voice to the fear that started a revolt: “Under the banner of economic development, all private property is now vulnerable to being taken and transferred to another private owner, so long as it might be upgraded.”