Two climbers have scaled the New York Times headquarters building opposite the Port Authority using the ceramic bars designed by architest Renzo Piano as so many step-ladders. The New York Police Department greeted at the top by arrest, charging them with reckless endangerment and criminal trespass. A French climber unfurled a banner protesting global warming while a New Yorker proclaimed his climb a protest to call attention to malaria.
While I don’t dispute the criminal charges against these two climbers, I take issue with the causes they invoked. The New York Times and its building co-owner Forest City Ratner Enterprises, which is controlled by developer Bruce Ratner, cannot be blamed for either global warming or malaria. However, Ratner and the New York Times should be blamed for what I dubbed years ago as Time$cam, the legalized theft of the block long space from the property owners with the complicity of the evil agency known as the Empire State Development Corporation.
The dirty deed of Time$cam was done with the connivance of Republican Governor Pataki, as well as Republican Mayors Giuliani and Bloomberg. So much for "choice" between Republicans and Democrats.
As a Libertarian and former chair of the Libertarian Party of New York www.ny.lp.org I have campaigned against such eminent domain abuse. In October 2002, we held a protest outside the old NY Times headquarters on Forty-Third Street in Manhattan.
Let us protest and denounce Times$cam. Let us remember the property-owners, their tenants, and patrons who were forced out by the force of government. Let us remember the taxpayers who footed the bill. Let us remember and protest the current Bruce Ratner eminent domain scheme in Brooklyn, known as Atlantic Yards for a combined residential, office and corporate sports welfare plan. (See www.nolandgrab.org)
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To help fight eminent domain. Vote Libertarian www.lp.org and contribute to the Institute for Justice www.ij.org.
For other writings on eminent domain:
Spitzer’s Economic Development Czar Steps Down https://www.groundreport.com/Arts_and_Culture/Spitzers-Economic-Development-Czar-Steps-Down
Greedy In Brooklyn: Well-connected Developer Seeks Still More Subsidies For Brooklyn Arena Scheme https://www.groundreport.com/US/Well-connected-Developer-Seeks-More-Subsidies-For-
Demand Freedom For Chinese Land Grab Resister https://www.groundreport.com/World/Demand-Freedom-For-Chinese-Land-Grab-Resister
Atlantic Yards Eminent Domain Abuse Scheme Confronts Reality https://www.groundreport.com/Politics/Atlantic-Yards-Eminent-Domain-Abuse-Scheme-Confron
Urban Renewal Schemes Seeking Planning Consultant Accomplices https://www.groundreport.com/Politics/Urban-Renewal-Schemes-Seeking-Planning-Consultant-
They Call It Developing Downtown On Long Island https://www.groundreport.com/Politics/They-Call-It-Developing-Downtown
Gyrodyne Investors Criticize Eminent Domain Defense https://www.groundreport.com/Politics/Gyrodyne-Investors-Criticize-Eminent-Domain-Defens
Drew Carey’s TV Program On Eminent Domain Abuse https://www.groundreport.com/Politics/Drew-Careys-TV-Program-On-Eminent-Domain-Abuse
Columbia University Eminent Domain In Harlem Condemned By Libertarian Alumni https://www.groundreport.com/Politics/Columbia-University-Eminent-Domain-In-Harlem-Conde
Barclays Bank Boycott To Protest Eminent Domain Abuse https://www.groundreport.com/Opinion/Barclays-Bank-Boycott-To-Protest-Eminent-Domain-Ab
A Child’s Book of Eminent Domain https://www.groundreport.com/Politics/A-Childs-Book-of-Eminent-Domain
About Ron Paul: Presidential Candidate Defended Black Church Dispossessed By Eminent Domain https://www.groundreport.com/Politics/Presidential-Candidate-Defended-Black-Church-Dispo