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Government, NY Times Join Forces to Evict Business Owners
By Jeff McKay
CNSNews.com Correspondent
October 18, 2002

(CNSNews.com) - A New York State government agency is forcing a group of business owners to leave their property by condemning it. That clears the way for a new skyscraper to go up - an office building that will house the New York Times. Critics complain city taxpayers will foot part of the bill. In a deal struck by the Empire State Development Corporation, a group of Midtown Manhattan buildings - just a block from Times Square - will be torn down. The land will then be leased to the New York Times, which plans to build a million-plus square foot office tower that will also include leased commercial space. Some say the deal gives the land to the New York Times for "pennies on the dollar."

In a New York Times story dated October 25, 2001, the New York Times called the now-condemned block, "a shabby blend of sex shops, prostitution, loitering, and drug dealing." The report was entitled, "Blight to Some is Home to Others." But others disagree. "In reality, the ESD (Empire State Development) is condemning an entire block of thriving small businesses along 8th Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets so that the Times can erect a new building," said Manhattan Libertarian Party spokesman Jim Lesczynski. "This will be at the expense of property owners, tenants and taxpayers. This New York Times plan is simply a case of the government helping the politically powerful at the expense of the less fortunate," according to Lesczynski.

"It's so abusive -- the tactics they are using. They are pressuring tenants to move out," Orbach stated. "When I came to America, I could never believe that this could happen here. To me, this is very reminiscent of Nazi Germany."

posted by A Curmudgeon 5:40 AM