On the eve of a hearing before the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, the City of New York has withdrawn its eminent domain suit and halted efforts to acquire private property in the “Iron Triangle” of Willets Point, Queens. The condemnation actions were scheduled for a hearing Monday at which time the property owners’ attorney, Michael Rikon, planned to contend that the City’s proposed takings for the $3 billion Willets Point redevelopment plan were neither for a public purpose nor conducted appropriately under requirements set forth in NY State’s Eminent Domain Procedure Law (EDPL), the New York State Constitution or the U.S. Constitution.

Last week Willets Point United, a group of business and land owners dedicated to fighting eminent domain abuse in Willets Point, Queens, NY, and supporters of private property owners rallied in support of H.R. 1433, The Private Property Rights Protection Act of 2012. H.R. 1433 prohibits the use of federal funds for economic development projects that use the power of eminent domain to take private property for anything other than public use.

Willets Point United Against Eminent Domain Abuse (Willets Point United) filed an amicus brief this week in support of a group of fellow NYC property owners, businesses and tenants who are fighting the use of condemnation and the taking of their properties for the proposed Atlantic Yards Arena and Redevelopment Project in Brooklyn. (For more detailed reporting of the proposed Atlantic Yards project, see Norman Oder’s Atlantic Yards Report.) The case, Goldstein v. New York State Urban Dev. Corp., is pending in the New York State Court of Appeals.

Yesterday, Willets Point United Against Eminent Domain Abuse, a group of business and property owners dedicated to fighting eminent domain abuse in the neighborhood of Willets Point, in Queens, NY, met on the steps of City Hall to raise their concerns about the nomination of Judge Sonya Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Willets Point United joins other property rights groups, legal scholars and experts in questioning Judge Sotomayor’s position on property rights, specifically with respect to her participation in the Second Circuit opinion in Didden v. Village of Port Chester.

According to an article published February 20, 2011, in Crain’s internet magazine, NewYorkbusiness.com, “Holdouts dig in at Willets Point”, the local business owners are fighting City efforts to turn the 62 acre area into a mixed-use development.

Unless it needs property to build a road, a subway line, a water-treatment plant, or a similar piece of truly public infrastructure—or unless a piece of land poses a clear and present danger to the public—the state should keep its hands off people’s property.

The New York Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments in Goldstein, et al. v. New York State Urban Development Corporation d/b/a/ Empire State Development Corporation on Wednesday, October 14, 2009 beginning at 2:00 pm (EST). It is expected that arguments will be available by webcast.

In a NY Sun article yesterday, NY State Senator Bill Perkins, Democrat from Harlem, is said to be calling for a moratorium on eminent domain and a possible push for greater restrictions on the use of eminent domain. “I don’t know of too many other issues where you have such diverse and pervasive outrage,” Perkins said in a recent interview.

On Friday, New York State Supreme Court Judge John R. LaCava issued an opinion in the eminent domain case known as In Re Matter of Village of Port Chester v. Village of Port Chester, 2010 NY Slip Op 50532(U), Supreme Court, Westchester County (Decided April 2, 2010), ordering the Village of Port Chester to pay the property owners $3,062,000.00, plus interest, for the taking of their commercial properties.