Description:

Boosters of eminent domain abuse often point to New York City’s Times Square as the best example of the glitzy success that can be achieved through eminent domain for private gain.  But the government official who headed up that project and who directed the use of eminent domain there has just published a report with the Institute for Justice in which he states, without equivocation, that eminent domain actually caused Times Square to further decline.  Only when government got out of the way to let in true private development, he writes, did Times Square grow into the success story that it is today.

The Truth About Times Square is the fifth installment of Perspectives on Eminent Domain Abuse, our series of independently authored reports that examine eminent domain abuse from the vantage point of noted national experts.