OPINION & EDITORIAL
City of brotherly love
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by Badger Herald Editorial Board
Sunday, September 21, 2008
The University of Wisconsin received a $20 million gift from two anonymous donors last week to construct a new campus music center. The new facility, to be built on the northwest corner of Lake Street and University Avenue and tentatively set for completion in 2013, will replace the low-quality performance halls in the Humanities building.
One hitch remains in the university’s plans: The site of the new center is the current home to two properties not owned by UW. Most notably, the popular watering hole Brothers Bar and Grill is located at the site. Among the options on the table for UW to obtain the property is to invoke the always-controversial power of eminent domain.
There’s no question the university could, if it wants to, use eminent domain in this situation. The property acquired would be converted into a music facility owned and operated by the state’s flagship university, undeniably a public use.
But it is important to note a few other considerations. Although the block in question is not among the more aesthetically pleasing locales along University Avenue, it is certainly not blighted. Indeed, Brothers does good business at the spot.
Nor is the use of eminent domain to build a music center as vital as using it to build a road, for instance. It is a facility that benefits a decidedly narrow segment of the population.
We are encouraged the university seems to recognize that invoking eminent domain is a last-resort option. UW will make a strong effort to negotiate a fair and reasonable price for the properties it wants to acquire, according to UW spokesman David Giroux.
Brothers may decide that it does not wish to leave downtown Madison. Should Brothers find a suitable location downtown to move its bar, the city should make this feasible from a regulatory perspective. This means allowing Brothers to transfer its alcohol license to a new location.
Property rights are sacred. Being forced to relocate from a profitable location surely will be a tough pill to swallow for Brothers. The university and city should make the process as non-coercive and straightforward as possible.
Anonymous (September 23, 2008 @ 8:21am):
Two things:
1) Eminent domain is not a controversial power for anyone who knows anything about the law. It's not surprising that the university or state can use its constitutional right to do this as they do it all the time.
I'll surmise that its exercise is at times controversial, but only in certain circumstances and even those should not be surprising. If, for example, the city had taken the property and used it for economic development, you might have a claim that its exercise was "controversial" given the recent Executive Order and Supreme Court case.
But, even then it's clearly within the province of their rights to do it and it doesn't even have to be blighted, as you'll remember from Kelo v. New London.
2) "The university and city should make the process as non-coercive and straightforward as possible."
I'm pretty sure they already have. They are going to take the property complex that Brothers is in, which arguably is already blighted property (see Berman v. Parker), and move them to another location. Not a bad deal, considering they are presumably getting compensated for the hassle.
And even if they cannot get another license or transfer it, it's not a right, it's a privilege. There is a significant difference and Brothers will just have to live with the consequences.
Anonymous (September 29, 2008 @ 1:46am):
So, you acknowledge the university has done nothing wrong and hasn't hinted at doing anything wrong in the future with this project. Would you have written this editorial if it was a new stadium instead of a music center?
And do you know what a turnoff the Humanities building is to prospective music majors?
Anonymous (September 29, 2008 @ 3:11pm):
Oh? Just because a law exists doesn't mean it isn't unjust or even downright evil. (Slavery, anyone?)
And what's this about being able to support yourself being a "privilege?" Is being alive a "privilege?" You need to support yourself in order to do so, you know. Is this Soviet bloody Russia?
Brothers is a frat bar and thus they need to be located near the frats, as fratboys are famously lazy. Making them change locations is taking away something that is really difficult to replace.
Eminent domain was created for things like roads that benefit everyone. Just because it has historically been abused doesn't make the original spirit of the law any different.
They're tearing down humanities anyway, what's to stop them from making humanities a little taller?
If they don't give them adequate compensation and especially if they take away their alcohol license, it will be a seriously egregious abuse of the law.
(Let it be known that I despise Brothers and will never go there again even if they do reopen.)
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