City ends "blight" fight

In Long Branch, New Jersey, a dull, peptic tower of luxury condos now looms over a working-class beachfront neighborhood - blocking the view that the older homes once enjoyed. The new condos cater exclusively to the wealthy, many of whom are early retirees.

But the new development will likely see no more expansion - much to the delight of its working-class neighbors.

Starting in 1994, the city of Long Branch tried to abuse eminent domain to seize houses in the neighborhood and turn the property over to the developers. However, both the federal and state Constitutions permit eminent domain only for public use. The new development is private.

As an excuse for this right-wing land grab, the city claimed the existing properties were "blight." In fact, hard-working residents were denied permission by the city to improve their homes just so the city could call them "blight." The city also refused to maintain the streets, for that same reason.

But now, the city is abandoning plans to seize over a dozen homes to allow the development to expand. Surely, some damage has already been done at the hands of this project - so the real blight is from the new luxury condos. But it now appears as if there will be no more.

Maybe the developers don't want the land anymore because the economy is so bad that whatever they build on it will sit empty. How much market can there possibly be for exclusive condos when everyone keeps getting poorer and poorer?

Powerful, greedy developers often browbeat people and local governments until they get their way, but this time it didn't work exactly the way they hoped.

A few of you remember us in the early days of The Last Word having those paranoid delusions about local cities trying to force working-class residents out to build upscale retail and residential developments. Damn, what a bunch of fools we Last Word people musta been, because everyone knows nothing like that ever happens in America.

Except that it does. And this story proves it.

(Source: http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2008/11/long_branch_may_be_extending_o.html)