Eminent domain revisited up close and personal.(Viewpoint)

Byline: Greg David

The once esoteric legal doctrine of eminent domain has put me in the middle of an unusual lobbying blitz. On one side are people who support important development projects like the Nets arena in Brooklyn or the expansion of Columbia University, both of which will need to involve eminent domain. On the other is my daughter, who has taken up the issue as part of her American government class and is sure eminent domain needs to be outlawed. More and more, I think my daughter is right.

The concept has been around since the founding. It allows government to take private property from unwilling owners, with court-set compensation, for such …