Avi Schick, the appointee of former New York governor Spitzer as president of the New York State Empire State Development Corporation, has stepped down. (New York Times, May 20, 2008 http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/20/nyregion/20schick.html?ex=1211947200&en=964dc40db1d117db&ei=5070.
Like the federal Housing and Urban Development secretary, his departure should be followed by his agency’s extinction. Both are illegitimate in my opinion as a Libertarian. (US Housing Agency Chief Departs, Agency Should Follow Suit https://www.groundreport.com/Politics/Housing-Agency-Chief-Departs-Agency-Should-Follow).
Charles V. Bagli for the Times reported of Schick "He was responsible for the state’s role in rebuilding Lower Manhattan, as well as Governors Island, and the Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, Columbia University’s expansion plan for Manhattanville and the Brooklyn Bridge project." As a Libertarian I reject these schemes for their injection of government into economic development and in the cases of Atlantic Yards and the Columbia’s schemes, their use of eminent domain. I am a Columbia alumnus.
Eminent domain schemes are legalized theft transferring property from some to others. Economic development agencies rest on what Nobel Laureate in economics Friedrich von Hayek termed "the fatal conceit" of planners.
Officials like Schick and Patrick J. Foye, who recently stepped down as co-chairman of the Empire State Dvelopment Corporation, are accomplices in the legalized theft from taxpayers and landed property owners. But their elected masters like Spitzer, Giuliani, Pataki, Bloomberg, Paterson and their ilk at every level of government around the country and the world, are the greater criminals. Let us repudiate them at the polls. Let us adopt the Libertarian philosophy of individual liberty, free markets, private property and personal responsibility. Free New York from the Empire State. -30-
(Richard Cooper is the export/import manager of a Long Island manufacturing firm. He is the former Chair of the Libertarian Party’s www.lp.org New York affiliate www.ny.lp.org and was a Ron Paul delegate in the GOP primary).
For additional information, see my articles on eminent domain and economic development:
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-
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
Presidential Candidate Defended Black Church Dispossessed By Eminent Domain https://www.groundreport.com/Politics/Presidential-Candidate-Defended-Black-Church-Dispo
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