The awesome power of eminent domain has the potential for great abuse. It was a hallmark of Robert Moses, the “Master Builder” who in his prime years condemned entire neighborhoods, paid little for the property condemned and let the former owners litigate for years for their just compensation.1 Under some statutes, advance payments were not required and, where they were, they were not based on any appraisal and were often in a meaningless amount.2
In 1964, the newly appointed Nassau County Attorney3 asked two colleagues to take a hard look at the range of practices that structured the county’s dealings with its condemnees. Access was afforded to every condemnation filed in the office. Altogether 110 proceedings were studied between 1960 and 1964. Not until after the vesting of title did the county ever order an appraisal, and this could take from two months to a year. During this period, the county would not discuss price. Advance payment was rarely made, and even when a case was settled the median wait was 18.8 months. But the most startling discovery was that the county usually paid the former owners less (often, far less) than the county’s lowest appraisal in a startlingly large percentage of the takings.4
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