The October 4th, 2008 Walkathon on behalf of the legal fund of Develop, Don’t Destroy Brooklyn (DDDB) raised $45,000 despite the downturn according to DDDB www.dddb.net. They are combatting the attempt by developer Bruce Ratner of Forest City Ratner in league with Borough President Marty Markowitz and, Mayor Michael Bloomberg to seize private property and turn it over to Ratner for a combination sports arena, office and residential complex.
The Libertarian Party of New York is strongly opposed to eminent domain and fielded a team of three walkers with myself as captain on short notice. Tax-deductible contributions can still be made to sponsor my walk til the end of the month of November. http://dddb.kintera.org/wdd4/lpnymedia or directly to Develop, Don’t Destroy.
The Libertarian Party already took on Forest City Ratner with the campaign I called Time$cam when the Times and Ratner had the State take private property for the new NY TImes building. We held a protest outside the old Times Building on 43rd Street in October 2002.
We began outside Bob Law’s Seafood Cafe on Vanderbilt Avenue with speeches from Daniel Goldstein of Develop, Don’t Destroy Brooklyn and City Councilwoman Letitia James. Our candlelit procession was escorted by the NY Police Department. We stopped for an impromptu concert by the musicians who accompanied us the entire way. We ended at a music venue, the Brooklyn Lyceum, at the corner of Union Street and Fourth Avenue for food, drink, music and speeches. For part of the way, my companions (Mark Axinn and Joseph Dobrian) and I walked with our competition in the Green Party. For more reports and pictures, see www.nolandgrab.org.
As New Yorkers go to the polls, they should be aware that of those on the New York ballot only Bob Barr www.bobbarr2008.com, the Libertarian Party candidate and John McCain, the Republican candidate, have taken consistent positions against eminent domain abuse. I support Barr. Obama has not taken a position. For comparisons, see http://2008election.procon.org/viewresource.asp?resourceID=1668. For a previous report on the Walkathon, see https://groundreport.com/articles.php?id=2870695 Walkathon Against Eminent Domain. Libertarians describe eminent domain such as Atlantic Yards and Time$cam as legalized theft. -30-
(About the author: Richard Cooper is a international trade executive with a manufacturing firm on Long Island, New York, USA. He is active in the Libertarian Party on eminent domain and other issues. He was chair of the Libertarian Party of New York www.ny.lp.org)