<p>…by comparison, miss Kelo was not interested in holding out for more money. She wanted to keep the property, damn the price and the developers’ offer. And that was what made it a supreme court case.</p>
<p>Columbia’s case is somewhere between the two. As a nonprofit established for the public good, Columbia can claim a little more high ground than a mall developer. It is my impression that many of the holdouts and complainers in the target area are of the “gimme more money” variety, rather than the “my grandparents were born and died in this house and you can kiss the rosiest part of my ass” variety.</p>
<p>If it is the former, then this is all simply posturing over money, and the threatened use of eminent domain in order to protect some measure of Public Interest (given Columbia’s status within NYC, the jobs at stake, etc) may be appropriate. If it’s the latter, then neither I nor Sandra Day O’Connor support the use of eminent domain in this case.</p>