More Eminent Domain News in Brooklyn

As gentrification in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn continues, affordable housing advocates are seeking to acquire a 15-acre plant site in Williamsburg owned by the Pfizer Corporation. Pfizer was involved in the landmark 2005 US Supreme Court case Kelo v. City of New London that has been much criticized for permitting eminent domain abuses.

According to a report in Friday’s Wall Street Journal Health Blog by Jacob Goldstein, Pfizer is trying to sell its property to a private developer. However, New York Assemblyman Vito Lopez (D–Williamsburg), the chairman of the Assembly’s housing committee and Joseph Lentol (D–Greenpoint) plan to introduce a bill to taken the Pfizer property by eminent domain in order to build affordable housing on the site. Details of the story are found in a January 26 article in the Brooklyn Paper.