NYU Furman Center Fall Speaker Series: Ronit Levine-Schnur

Please join the NYU Furman Center for a virtual lunchtime presentation:

Property Takings in NYC, 1991-2019: An Empirical Study
with
Ronit Levine-Schnur
Senior Lecturer
Harry Radzyner Law School

Monday, 11/7 @ 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. ET
Join on Zoom

A controversial U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kelo v. City of New London (2005) which did not limit the use of state’s eminent domain powers, led to an unprecedented legislative reaction by almost all 50 states. Of all, New York State stands out as one of the single states not to respond with a legislative amendment. In this study, Prof. Levine-Schnur asks whether the state’s predation was greater in the years following these legal and political developments, in light of the freedom which was granted to local politicians by both the Supreme Court and the state’s legislators. The article hypothesizes that contrary to common perceptions, judicial decisions impact local government even when no legal rules are officially changed.

Levine Schnur uses rigorous statistics and scrupulously defined data to expand scholarly understanding of the aftermath of the judicial decision in Kelo. The main finding is that the decision has in fact affected political behavior, but in the opposite direction than commonly expected: politicians in New York City acted consistently with public opinion, which was hostile to Kelo, not by changing the law, but by changing their practice. Studying all known taking exercises in New York City between 1991 and 2019, the paper finds no increase in the number of development projects involving condemnations after 2005. In fact, the probability of a taking for economic development or urban renewal dropped by 90%. The use of eminent domain for such projects declined even when both state and federal courts refrain from interposing any limit on its use.

About the Presenter: 

Dr. Ronit Levine-Schnur is a senior lecturer at the Harry Radzyner Law School, and a research associate at the G-City Institute for Real Estate at Reichman University (IDC Herzliya). She is a lawyer, an urban planner, and a property and land use law expert. Dr. Levine-Schnur is mostly interested in studying and measuring the effects of regulatory and other legal mechanisms on the socio-spatial distribution of social and economic burdens and benefits and on the effects of social and economic factors on decision-making processes. 

This event is open to members of the NYU community. Please register using this RSVP link.