Submitted by Ed Dunne, Jul 27, 2007 11:05

Two elephants, a "storage mogul" and Columbia University, are posturing for a fight over 17 acres of land on the Hudson in west Harlem. Neither comes to the fight with clean hands. Columbia, the third largest landowner in the city, has an endowment greatrer than the GNP of most emerging nations and a checkered history vis a vis land use. Just think of the Columbia student riots of the '70's. They started over the university's plan to steal Morningside Park. As for the "storage mogul", he couldn't care less about affordable housing in the area. He is concerned that eminent domain won't give him real market value for the land he owns in the projects fooprint. Both claim their motives are pure. Neither one is. One is a land grabber, the other a hypocrit. Both should stop the nonsense and sit down and negotiate a fair price for private property. Than a good project can get started without the bad karma that comes from and abuse of eminent domain.

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