As a citizen activist fighting to protect private property owners from the unwanted government bulldozer I have met many victims and those attorney’s who offer their services to protect these home and business owners against efforts to take their properties when you have no desire to sell. The following blog report, involving Bill and Hillary Clinton, is from attorney/Law professor Gideon Kanner whom I have been fortunate enough to befriend in our mutual efforts relating to this issue. As we have read, based on Hillary Clinton’s pending appointment as Sec of State in the Obama Cabinet, her husband Bill Clinton has been reporting on funds received by his Foundation from a lengthy list of donors. In this case we are not referring to some OPEC billionaire. This story relates to redevelopment financing in Syracuse New York.
Here’s a partial bio on Gideon. “An experienced appellate attorney and eminent domain expert, Mr. Kanner has been a practicing appellate lawyer in eminent domain and inverse condemnation for forty years. Mr. Kanner has been counsel for property owners in numerous precedent-setting cases before the California Supreme Court and has appeared as counsel for parties and amici curiae in a number of inverse condemnation cases in the United States Supreme Court.”
Gideon’s Trumpet blog is as follows.
http://gideonstrumpet.info/?page_id=2
Funny Coincidence Department
by Professor Gideon Kanner
One of the most outrageous applications of the power of eminent domain took place a few years ago in Syracuse, New York, where a local redevelopment agency set out to condemn, not leasehold interests, but rather specific provisions in leases of major tenants occupying space in an existing shopping mall that had been built as part of an earlier redevelopment project. This was done in order to facilitate another redeveloper’s plans for an expansion of that mall. The protesting tenants included JC Penney and Lord & Taylor. They argued that the changes sought to be imposed unilaterally on their leases by the use of eminent domain were contrary to the parties’ intent when those leases were entered into, and had they known that such changes would occur, they never would have entered into those leases in the first place. That sounds like a reasonable argument. But, hey man, this was New York whose courts neither see, nor hear, nor speak evil when it comes to redevelopment takings, and routinely reject owners’ submissions in terse opinions. And so it was in this case. See In re Kaufman’s Carousel v. Syracuse Industrial Development Agency, 70 N.Y.S.2d 212 (App. Div. 2002). We now learn from the New York Times that there were aspects to this deal that are — shall we say? – fascinating. According to the Times (Charlie Savage, A Donor’s Gift Soon Followed Clinton’s Help, N.Y. Times, Jan. 4, 2009, at p. 1) New York Senator Hilary Clinton “helped secure millions of dollars in federal assistance for the [Syracuse] mall project” now known as Destination USA, for which she took repeated public credit. That legislation makes the bonds used to finance the Syracuse redevelopment project, tax free, being as they are said to be “green bonds” – i.e., they finance “environmentally friendly projects,” like recycled materials, and solar power panels — stuff that a lender would not ordinarily approve. So here it is, folks. A humongous shopping mall gets a bundle under the “green” banner as “environmentally friendly.” Goes to show how little we know – we always thought that large shopping malls consume vacant land and attract a lot of shoppers, thus requiring a large infrastructure, and generating traffic that contributes to traffic congestion, air pollution and global warming – things that would seem to be something less than environmentally desirable. But that’s the least of it. What makes this story noteworthy (presumably that’s how it wound up on the front page of the New York Times) is that after those bonds were approved by Congress, and after Senator Clinton repeatedly took credit for pushing them through, the redeveloper behind Destination USA, donated $100,000 to the William J. Clinton Foundation that finances Bill Clinton’s presidential library and donates funds other projects favored by him. So what, you say – a fellow should be free to support a fellow Democrat if he pleases. True enough, except that the gentleman in question isn’t a Democrat; according to the Times, he is “a major Republican campaign fund-raiser,” a “Bush Ranger” who in 2004 alone gathered more than $200,000 for the Bush-Cheney ticket, as well as additional funds for the Republican National Committee and several Republican presidential candidates. Nonetheless, he says he thought that Bill Clinton was “a great president.” The bottom line — in the words of the Times: “[This] contribution is the only known situation so far in which an American donor gave a large sum to Mr. Clinton’s foundation while benefiting from his wife’s official actions.”
To read the entire Herald Tribune story simply click on the following link:
Hard to tie in a quid pro quo on that one. I suspect that we will find this on a lot of green projects that don’t pass the sniff test.
I think we had something like this in our own backyard over at the old Huntington Center, now Bella Terra, where Wards, Mervyns, and Burlington Coat Factory had to fight eviction. I think during the dispute Wards went belly up and now Mervyns has done the same. Maybe another reader has better information on this.
While I support curbs on the abuse of imminent domain isn’t there a legitimate use of imminent domain? Can a property owner or tenant stand in the way of progress and cause an eyesore to persist because they fight every attempt at redevelopment? Or is there any legitimate use of imminent domain in your opinion Larry?
anon.
Yes, there are legitimate uses for eminent domain “takings” of private property. In fact at last night’s Missson Viejo city council meeting there was discussion of an alternative solution to the 241 Toll road that would involve removal of 200 to 600 homes. Sad to report that this is an illustration of a valid use. A road, firehouse, school or police station, each of which are a recognized public use.
A few years ago I watched as the residents of Garden Grove addressed a major effort to take hundreds of their homes for a theme park along Harbor Blvd to compete with Disney. Steve Greenhut covered that effrot in the OC Register. The impacted owners were smart and made sure to fix their properties to remove any questionable challenges of Code violations. They painted the houses and mowed their lawns, etc. making it hard to declare the area as being “blighted.”
I believe the examply you reference is located within a redevelopment project area. The city can make improvements to the area by infrastructure improvements be it easing traffic flow or dressing up the aging public areas. Truthfully, it is in the best interest of the mall owners to make improvments just to retain their existing merchant’s customers. While we upgrade our homes the same investment is really in the best interest of the business community.
Look at the renovation of El Toro Road in Lake Forest where you can see a major change from the older shopping center. In their case the only use of eminent domain was to remove two gas stations to widen the road. They may have offered some low cost interest to the property owners as an inducement for that major renovation.
The core of the problem is defining what exactly is “blight,” which to date, is in the eyes of the beholder. We need to establish quantitative and qualitative data so that we are all on the same page. That data would include property vacancy factors, property taxes in arrears, high poverty rates, delinquent lease payments and high crime as benchmarked against other cities.
We tried to do this with SB 1206 a few years ago and met stiff resistence in the legislature. The result was a gutted Bill signed by governor Schwarzenegger.
Thanks Larry, you know I support your efforts at getting restrictions on the eminent domain takings.
As far as the Bella Terra story went all three tenants were able to stay. I don’t know what the ownership issues were but it worked out. Now if the economy improves maybe we can get the rest of the center developed. The changes they made were all good and the center is revitalized even if only half is completed.