Experts Available to Discuss Supreme Court Ruling on Seizing Property for Private Development.

TOPIC: In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court decided local governments may take people's homes, without consent, for the sake of private development, according to an article by The Associated Press. The ruling is viewed as a defeat for residents in New London, Conn. whose homes are to be razed in order to build an office complex and hotel. The Fifth Amendment states local governments may seize private property if that land is deemed for "public use," such as roads and schools. City officials in New London argued that building an office complex and hotel would serve the public by improving the local economy. Residents with homes that are seized will receive compensation.

EXPERTS: ExpertSource can offer several highly qualified experts to comment on this story:

John Williams is the national director of government consulting/planning senior vice president of HDR. He has been responsible for project planning and community involvement programs on behalf of municipalities in more than 20 states. He has spent nearly 23 years in professional service as an advocate for the public interest and, for the past 15 years, he has worked with communities seeking to enter into large-scale infrastructure development and/or service agreements with private companies in more than a dozen states. Mr. Williams' objective has been to secure the best possible contractual arrangement through which the interests of both the public and private participants are evenly balanced. He is an adjunct professor at Columbia University in New York where he teaches courses on planning and privatization and is a frequent speaker and author.

William Bitting is a senior partner of one of Los Angeles' oldest and respected law firms, Hill, Farrer & Burrill LLP. During his distinguished career, which spans four decades, he has become one of the nation's preeminent real estate and business litigators and an acknowledged authority in various areas of law, most notably Eminent Domain. He has handled lawsuits, which resulted in U.S. and World records for money awarded in verdicts. As a litigator, he has acted as Trial Counsel in trials throughout the U.S. including California, New York, Illinois, Texas, Nevada and Massachusetts among other states. He is licensed to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Tax Court and a variety of federal courts. As testimony to his expertise and reputation, he has represented some of the nation's most illustrious business tycoons (e.g. Howard Hughes, Donald Trump, Beer Baron Paul Kalmanovitz) as well as major corporations (e.g. Hughes Tool Company, Summa Corporation, Walt Disney Company, Union Pacific Railway Company, Southern Pacific Railway Company).

Barry Long is a principal of Urban Design Associates, architects who design cities, towns, and neighborhoods with the goal of creating beautiful places with lasting value for the communities they serve. His excellent design techniques and management skills enable him to respond quickly and effectively to the most complex political and physical challenges. Design is the creative focus of UDA's participatory process in which citizens, economists, engineers, architects, developers, policy makers, government officials, and builders are brought together to construct humane and appropriate visions for the future. Barry and his team build on the unique character and positive qualities inherited by each place in which they are privileged to work. By working at many scales, they find ways of coordinating the design of individual buildings; the public spaces they help create; the neighborhoods, towns, and cities of which they are a part; and the regional culture they celebrate into a viable and vital urban tapestry. Their work includes master plans, detailed urban designs for neighborhoods and town centers, pattern books, and architectural design for civic buildings, mixed-use structures, and prototype houses. Barry is a member of the American Institute of Architects and actively participates as a member of its Committee on Design. He is also a member of the Urban Land Institute and the Pennsylvania Society of Architects. Barry has worked with the Community Design Center to create neighborhood revitalization design workshops and with Habitat for Humanity to improve housing designs.

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