Text size:

City woman leads charge against eminent domain

By Justin Rocket Silverman, amNewYork Staff Writer
More stories | jsilverman@am-ny.com

December 4, 2007

Joy Chatel learned in 2004 that the city was planning to use eminent domain to take her 150-year-old Brooklyn house, possibly a stop on the Underground Railroad.

Little did she know then that a court settlement reached last week would not only let her keep her home, but would galvanize a citywide movement against the practice of seizing private property.

"I don't want to say that we beat City Hall," Chatel said through tears yesterday. "What we did was make City Hall see just what they were doing to us."

The house, at 227 Duffield St. in Downtown Brooklyn, is believed to have been a stop for fleeing slaves in the 19th century, a contention the city says has not been proved. Chatel said she wants to turn it into a museum. The developers' plan called for replacing the house with an access road so cars could reach a planned park and parking lot being championed by the city.

Councilman Charles Barron (D-Brooklyn), referring to Chatel as abolitionist hero "Harriet Tubman," joined other lawmakers yesterday in calling for a wholesale reform of eminent domain laws. Assem.Joseph Lentol (D-Brooklyn) said that eminent domain laws "should be used for good instead of evil."

Legal observers said the Duffield house was saved because a judge realized its demolition wasn't essential for the planned downtown Brooklyn development projects, which include more offices, a park and an underground parking lot. There has been no attempt yet by the city to invoke eminent domain against the five other possibly historic houses on Duffield.

The city stressed that the estimated $9 billion project will proceed, and that the recent Duffield settlement won't affect other eminent domain cases, said Kate O'Brien Ahlers, spokeswoman for the city's Law Department.

Others, particularly those fighting the Atlantic Yards development, said all eminent domain cases will have a harder time in the future.

"With this settlement the city has shown it's always possible to do development without abusing eminent domain," said Daniel Goldstein, a member of Develop Don't Destroy and fierce opponent of the Atlantic Yards.