Time to Fix Eminent Domain
“After a long fight with the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority (PRA), the artist last week learned that he can keep his studio in the Mantua section of the city. The fight began back in 2012 when the PRA, citing the city’s eminent domain authority, seized his property and offered him what they considered a fair market value to vacate. Dupree disagreed on that. The PRA claimed, and still claims, that the area is a “food desert” and needed his block so that a private developer could build a supermarket. Dupree also disagreed. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. “A developer could easily build around my studio or on the vacant block next to me.”
Read more at http://www.phillymag.com/news/2014/12/16/time-fix-eminent-domain/#7lj1LSBq1JKlSMJp.99”
Marks, Gene. Philly Mag 16 December 2014.