“Many creative writers keep journals; the sociologist’s need for systematic reflection demands it.” -C. Wright Mills

A New York appeals court voted 3-2 against the use of eminent domain for Columbia’s expansion into West Harlem. The finding seems to list the usual culprits, like a flimsy blight finding, and (probably rightly) suggests that the decision to use eminent domain and the subsequent necessity of finding a public purpose were made in advance of an objective evaluation of the area. (Of course, DCP usually has a passive role in collecting this kind of information, preferring interested clients to do the work and convey it to them.) Regardless, eminent domain is often an abuse of police power.

My favorite quote, however, compares West Harlem to Atlantic Yards:

Warner Johnston, a spokesman for the Empire State Development Corporation, the agency that approved the use of eminent domain, called the decision “wrong and inconsistent with established law, as consistently articulated by the New York State Court of Appeals, most recently with respect to E.S.D.C.’s Atlantic Yards project.” He added, “E.S.D.C. intends to appeal this decision.”

As if an appeal to the Atlantic Yards project is going to garner anyone’s sympathies.