July 26, 2006 - Ohio Supreme Court Rules in Favor of Norwood Homeowners - See www.IJ.org

Jan. 26, 06 -  BANK PROTESTS AGAINST EMINENT DOMAIN

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: CONTACT: John E. Kramer or Lisa Knepper

January 25, 2006 (703) 682-9320

BB&T Respects Property Rights,

Won't Fund Eminent Domain Abuse

Arlington, Va.-BB&T, the nation's ninth largest financial holdings company with $109.2 billion in assets, announced today that it "will not lend to commercial developers that plan to build condominiums, shopping malls and other private projects on land taken from private citizens by government entities using eminent domain."

In a press release issued today by the bank, BB&T Chairman and Chief Executive Officer John Allison, said, "The idea that a citizen's property can be taken by the government solely for private use is extremely misguided, in fact it's just plain wrong. One of the most basic rights of every citizen is to keep what they own. As an institution dedicated to helping our clients achieve economic success and financial security, we won’t help any entity or company that would undermine that mission and threaten the hard-earned American dream of property ownership."

"BB&T's principled stand sets an example that should inspire other lenders and should become the new industry standard," said Institute for Justice President and General Counsel Chip Mellor. The Institute for Justice litigated the Kelo case, in which the U.S. Supreme Court allowed the taking of private property for someone else’s private use in the guise of "economic development." Mellor said, "You can and should accomplish economic development through private negotiation, not the use of government force through eminent domain. As far as we're concerned, BB&T now stands for Best Bank in Town."

The U.S. Congress is now considering bipartisan legislation that would federally de-fund eminent domain for private use. Although the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed legislation that would block any federal funds going to private development projects on land taken through eminent domain, the Senate has yet to vote on companion legislation. Last week, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), however, commented on an eminent domain case that was argued before the Ohio Supreme Court. The case involves Carl and Joy Gamble, homeowners from Norwood, Ohio, who could lose their home through eminent domain for a privately owned mall and high-end apartments. Frist wrote in an op-ed published by the Cincinnati Enquirer, "I have some pretty clear thoughts about the [Norwood] case: The Gambles should keep their home and the developer should either build around it or cancel the development plans altogether. . . . Quite simply, no family should ever risk losing its home because a government wants to help a private developer."

Scott Bullock, an Il. senior attorney who argued the Kelo case, said, "Eminent domain abuse is wrong and unconstitutional. BB&T has stepped up and recognized its corporate responsibility to not be a part of this shameful abuse of individual rights."

Dana Berliner, an IL. senior attorney who argued the Gambles' case before the Ohio Supreme Court, said, "Throughout the country, banks have been silent partners in the unholy alliance between local governments and private developers. Banks finance developers and cities that use eminent domain to take someone’s home or business and turn the land into new stores, condos, and office space. Others will hopefully follow BB&T's courageous example."

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Scroll Down for Asbury Park Press 12/22 story, too.                                    Return to Home Page

Over loud protest, Long Branch approves waterfront plan
Shore town's residents decry use of eminent domain to seize their property, but officials cite the greater good
Thursday, December 22, 2005
BY TOM FEENEY
Star-Ledger Staff
The Long Branch City Council approved the next phase of a huge oceanfront redevelopment project last night after listening to two hours of withering criticism from residents who will lose their properties to clear the way for it.
By a 5-0 vote, the council agreed to enter into a redevelopment contract with the builder K. Hovnanian for Beachfront South, a project that will bring 352 condominiums to 12 oceanfront acres between Bath and Morris avenues.
The city will need to acquire 27 parcels to make way for the project, either by negotiating settlements with the owners or taking the land by eminent domain. It was the use of eminent domain -- the process by which the government can force an owner off his property in exchange for fair compensation -- that riled the homeowners.
"What you're doing is immoral, unethical, and it's wrong," said Harold Bobrow, whose Ocean Boulevard condominium stands in the way of the project. "It's wrong to chase people from their homes."
Bobrow, one of scores of people to attend the session, cast the council's decision in terms of class struggle. The poor and middle class are being pushed aside so the well-to-do can live by the ocean, he said.
Bobrow's wife, Michelle, called the use of eminent domain in the area a "heavy-handed, despotic abuse of power."
As part of the agreement the council approved last night, K. Hovnanian agreed to rebuild a one-mile stretch of boardwalk for the city. Representatives of the company detailed the boardwalk project and other public improvements they have agreed to make. But that did nothing to appease those who stand to lose their properties.
Lori Ann Vendetti, who has been active with the group fighting the use of eminent domain for a different phase of the Long Branch redevelopment, stepped to the microphone in a T-shirt bearing the words, "Shame on Long Branch."
"Long Branch has become the national poster child for eminent domain abuse," Vendetti said.
The prospect of losing their properties inspired many of the speakers to high-toned rhetoric. They invoked the Constitution, recited the Serenity prayer and a Bible passage, read a stanza of 19th-century British poetry and quoted President John Quincy Adams.
Many made the point it seems un-American that people who have done nothing wrong could have their property taken from them anyway.
K. Hovnanian had been instructed by the city council to begin "arm's-length" negotiations with property owners of Beachfront South, but the property owners noted they are at a huge disadvantage at the negotiating table.
"Arm's-length negotiations? How silly is that notion?" asked William Giordano, an Ocean Terrace resident. "How can you have an arm's-length negotiation where you know they're just going to take your property anyway if you don't agree to sell it?"
Not everyone who spoke at the meeting was against the project.
A group of about a half-dozen sign-wielding union dock builders congratulated the city for the project and told council members they welcome the work it will bring.
Former Assemblyman John Villapiano said he already has negotiated with K. Hovnanian and agreed to sell a business property he owns in Beachfront South. He encouraged his neighbors to do the same.
"The money they will get for their homes will put them in the class they've been up here talking against all night," Villapiano said.
City officials sat stone-faced through most of the meeting. They have often encountered angry criticism over their use of eminent domain for the oceanfront redevelopment.
But as they cast their votes, most of the council members explained they saw eminent domain as a necessary evil -- the only way to breathe life into a once-popular Shore resort that had fallen on hard times.
"We do feel for the people affected by the redevelopment, but when we started the project, we tried to look out for the greater good of the city," Council President Anthony Giordano said.
The council's vice president, Michael DeStefano, said it would have been easier to do nothing than to use the controversial power. But it wouldn't have been the right decision, he said.
"Because we chose to do something, great things are happening along the waterfront," DeStefano said.

Despite opposition, Long Branch OKs beachfront condos
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/22/05
BY CAROL GORGA WILLIAMS
COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
LONG BRANCH - City Council members last night authorized Mayor Adam Schneider to sign the final agreement with developer K. Hovnanian Shore Acquisitions to build more than 350 homes and amenities in the area between Morris and North Bath avenues.
It is the last of the city's four oceanfront redevelopment zones to finalize plans with developers, and the deal to bring the $320 million project to fruition could result in as much as $15 million in improvements to the city, Schneider said.
K. Hovnanian immediately will pay $2.5 million, and could help the city pay as much as $13 million to rebuild the mile-long boardwalk between Morris and Brighton avenues. Some of that money will come from a percentage of the sale of the condominiums, an amount that could reach from $3 million to $5 million, officials said.
Finalizing the agreement was necessary now because the city will be able to use the money to project into next year's budget, said Schneider, refuting contentions that the deal was done in haste, at an inconveniently scheduled meeting before the holidays, to minimize criticism.
City Hall was filled last night, with the council chambers divided among several groups - union workers who support the project because they will get the job of rebuilding the boardwalk; Beachfront South property owners who oppose the redevelopment; supporters of the Marine Terrace, Ocean Terrace, Seaview Avenue Alliance who oppose what they call eminent domain abuse in their section of the redevelopment, called Beachfront North Phase II; and opponents of eminent domain use from other towns, such as Neptune and Fair Haven.
Calls offer too low
Katina Tsakiris, who lives in a four-story Victorian home on Ocean Boulevard that would be taken under the plan, said there is no way her family can be compensated for the loss of their family's history or for the ocean views she enjoys from the rambling old structure.
"Where are you going to give that to us?" she asked. "It doesn't exist anymore. We're the last one. What we were offered was not a quarter of what the house was worth."
Barry McCarron, area president of K. Hovnanian Homes, said in an interview the company has settled with two of the 23 property owners involved, and is in active negotiations with between six and eight others. Company officials have said the use of eminent domain is a last resort.
John Villapiano, owner of Jake's Gym on Ocean Avenue, said he settled with the developer and he found the process to be a fair one. But others in the audience quickly pointed out he is a business owner, not a resident in the area.
"Anyone living in Beachfront South is not the poor, huddled masses," said Villapiano, challenging other speakers who depicted the fight as one in which the poor and middle class took on the wealthy, in the form of the developers, and those who would buy the homes. "They negotiated in good faith, they negotiated honestly, they negotiated quickly. . . . I don't believe they are the devil. I don't believe they are evil."
Unanimous vote
Council members voted 5 to 0 to authorize the mayor to finalize the agreement, which will bring five 80-foot-tall buildings to the oceanfront that are designed to maximize ocean views. Council members said they did not believe the opponents gathered last night represent the majority of city residents.
K. Hovnanian will be adding a 10-foot-wide bicycle path, landscaping and other improvements to Ocean Boulevard. Ocean Avenue will get an expanded streetscape area for pedestrians that includes meandering sidewalks and coastal plantings. There will be seven public access corridors to the beach.
Landscape architect Thomas Bauer and architect Nory Hazaveh of SOSH Architects in New York City and Atlantic City have said the proposed residences will be on three sites totaling 12 acres. There will be 352 homes with a clubhouse and pools divided among five buildings.
Homes will be two-, three- and four-bedroom models ranging from 1,500 square feet to more than 2,900 square feet in a design style referred to as "tropical modernism." McCarron said market forces would determine pricing although officials said it could start in the upper $600,000-area.

"I got involved in Long Branch because it was touchable for a guy like me who works with these,'' said Bill Lees of Second Avenue, a dockworker who held up his hands. "My union brothers, we need projects. That's how we feed our families.''
http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051222/NEWS/512220422

These homeowners say they're getting robbed
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