When people (read: white-haired old men) hear the term “ED“, most in the post-Viagra era would probably think “erectile dysfunction“:
From Wikipedia:
Erectile dysfunction (ED or “male impotence“) is a sexual dysfunction characterized by the inability to develop or maintain an erection of the penis sufficient for satisfactory sexual performance.
However fascinating this type of dysfunction may be, this is not the “ED” that I’m talking about here. I’m referring to another type of dysfunction employed in the erection of other types of phalli: Eminent Domain:
Also from Wikipedia:
Eminent domain … is the inherent power of the state to seize a citizen‘s private property … with due monetary compensation, but without the owner’s consent. The property is taken either for government use or by delegation to third parties who will devote it to public or civic use or, in some cases, economic development. The most common uses of property taken by eminent domain are for public utilities, highways, and railroads. Some jurisdictions require that the government body offer to purchase the property before resorting to the use of eminent domain. The legal doctrine of eminent domain … allows expropriation of property within the existing system of law. Otherwise, expropriation may imply either a criminal or a revolutionary act.
I think that eminent domain is not necessarily dysfunctional. I believe that the government should have the right to force the sale of private property when it needs to provide for the common good when constructing things like roads, railways, schools, hospitals and other truly public facilities. I and many others believe eminent domain becomes dysfunctional when this awesome power of the state is used to transfer ownership of private property from one owner to another for the “public benefit” of “economic development,” especially when those determining these “public benefits” are the very ones who will be taking ownership of the property. If this isn’t an incentive for fraud and corruption, I don’t know what is. Forty three states (not including New York) also believed that the potential for eminent domain abuse was so great following Supreme Court’s 2005 decision in Kelo v. City of New London that they have amended their constitutions to tighten and restrict its use.
This Wednesday, October 14, 2009, the State of New York Court of Appeals will (surprisingly) hear the case of Goldstein et al. v. Empire State Development Corporation, which will decide if the Empire State Development Corporation (ESDC) has the right to seize the properties from their owners for Forest City Ratner‘s private Atlantic Yards land-grab development.
Although they may appear completely unrelated on the surface, both types of ED share a few traits:
(photo of ancient carving of Min, the Egyptian god of fertility from Wikipedia; rendering of Frank Gehry’s obsolete “Miss Brooklyn” of Atlantic Yards, version 0.2)
