Development agreements

California followers: be sure to register and join in on Wednesday, January 4, 2012, starting at 2:00 p.m. PST as Rick Rayl, Brad Kuhn (California Eminent Domain Report) and their firm colleagues present a webinar, “Supreme Court Upholds Elimination of Redevelopment in California – Now What?

This, of course, refers to

Battle for Brooklyn film poster

Today was the Hawaii premiere of Battle For Brooklyn, the Oscar-shortlisted documentary film about the Atlantic Yards case. We’re introducing the film and conducting a question-and-answer session after each showing.

Screening information: Tuesday and Wednesday, January 3 and 4, at 1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. each day at the Doris Duke Theater. More

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser published my movie review of “Battle For Brooklyn,” the documentary about the Atlantic Yards eminent domain fight, on the op-ed page. Check it out here or below. More importantly, if you are in Honolulu next week, come to one of the four screenings (details and link to ticket purchase below).

Today’s 6-1 California Supreme Court opinion in California Redevelopment Association v. Matosantos, No. S194861 (Dec. 29, 2011) brings to mind two of our favorite loanwords: schadenfreude (deriving pleasure from the misfortune of others) and schlimmbesserung (to worsen by improvement).

The first because we can’t say we’re crying much about the takedown of California redevelopment

As we noted earlier today (“Cal Supreme Court “Redevelops” Redevelopment Agencies“), the California Supreme Court has dealt a stunning blow to the redevelopment-industrial compex in California. Here’s more from media outlets and legal commentators:

  • Governor Jerry Brown issues his shortest press release, ever: “Today’s ruling by the California Supreme Court validates a key

For those who tuned in to today’s webinar Eminent Domain: Redevelopment Challenges for Local Government, here are the cases I spoke about during my session:

We recently asked “Is Kelo A Conservative Issue?,” and the the Ricochet blog asked the related question “Is Eminent Domain a Civil Rights Issue?.” 

In that vein, check out the above video from Reason about one case where “redevelopment” certainly seems to have raised civil rights concerns.

Today, we filed the Reply Brief (also available below) in the case that asks: after Kelo, when is eminent domain pretextual? 

Last month, we filed a cert petition asking the Supreme Court to review the Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision in County of Hawaii v. C&J Coupe Family Ltd. P’ship, 242 P.3d 1136

Last week the developer and the County of Hawaii filed their joint Brief in Opposition in C & J Coupe Family Limited Partnership v. County of Hawaii, No. 11-75 (cert. petition filed July 14, 2011), responding to the cert petition we filed earlier, that poses this Question Presented:

The Hawaii Supreme Court held that

On July 14, 2011, we filed this cert petition (also posted below), which asks the U.S. Supreme Court to review the Hawaii Supreme Court’s decision in County of Hawaii v. C&J Coupe Family Ltd. P’ship, 242 P.3d 1136 (Haw. 2010). In that case, the Hawaii court upheld the taking of land on the Big