It looks obvious

On the way home today, listening to the radio, I learned that Columbia University official proposing the use of eminent domain by the city to support the university’s expansion plan. The university official had the audacity to argue that the eminent domain is justified because the university expansion will benefit the public.

It is unfortunate that the such honorable institution, and one of the biggest land lords in NYC, is using its influence to harness the city to force people out of their property to its own benefit. Unlike some of the worried residence, I have no problem with the university’s expansion plan. However I see only one moral way it can happen - if the university will be able to convince the current owners to sell their property. The only fair price is the price agreed in an non-coerced negotiation, not under the guns of the government.

I wrote in the past about the Halpers, and argued that the claim of the "good of the public" is almost always being used to rob one from what is rightfully his. This case is no different.