Lynne Kiesling
New York Times columnist John Tierney and I share a hometown, Pittsburgh. In his column today (reg. req.), Tierney emphasizes some of the most appalling abuses of eminent domain that have been perpetrated in our hometown over the past several decades:
Pittsburgh has been the great pioneer in eminent domain ever since its leaders razed 80 buildings in the 1950’s near the riverfront park downtown. They replaced a bustling business district with Gateway Center, an array of bland corporate towers surrounded by the sort of empty plazas that are now considered hopelessly retrograde by urban planners trying to create street life.
At the time, though, the towers and plazas seemed wonderfully modern. Viewed from across the river, the new skyline was a panoramic advertisement for the Pittsburgh Renaissance, which became a national model and inspired Pittsburgh’s leaders to go on finding better uses for private land, especially land occupied by blacks.
Bulldozers razed the Lower Hill District, the black neighborhood next to downtown that was famous for its jazz scene (and now famous mostly as a memory in August Wilson’s plays). The city built a domed arena that was supposed to be part of a cultural “acropolis,” but the rest of the project died. Today, having belatedly realized that downtown would benefit from people living nearby, the city is trying to entice them back to the Hill by building homes there.
I love my hometown. Love it. But I’ve always been ashamed of its abusive eminent domain practices. Sadly, the Kelo decision creates more opportunities for such abuse.