Who says you can't fight city hall? Joy Ford did, and she won.

Joy Ford would not budge. Not because she is any of those things, but because Country International Records, humble and dated as some may see it, is hers.The saga of big and powerful people trying to take Joy's land is over.

For Gurnam Singh, the businesses represent a quarter-century of hard work.  The state, however, is poised to seize the stations to make way for a Columbia University expansion using eminent domain — a concept that Mr. Singh, a 47-year-old Indian immigrant, was barely familiar with until a few years ago.

The government's power to take private property for redevelopment had little support in the poll, not even when owners are paid a fair price and the project creates local jobs.  Participants said they consider private property rights conferred by the Constitution as important as freedom of speech and religion.

The idea of a government seizing a citizen's property is abhorrent to most Americans. Further, the idea of government seizing property and handing it over to a developer is unthinkable in the courtroom of popular opinion.

Long Branch officials may ask State Public Advocate Ronald K. Chen to serve as a mediator between the city and the homeowners.... If Chen does return to the case, it only should be to continue his efforts to prevent the city from acquiring the homeowners' properties.

Eagan has big plans for the quiet streets surrounding the now-demolished Cedarvale Shopping Center. City officials envision a walkable downtown of sorts — brimming with stores, housing, offices and parking and with easy access to a high-speed bus route. After years of quietly encouraging property owners to move of their own accord or accept compensation packages, the city still faces three holdouts...

Nashville's Music Row was once a place where individualism was valued.  Large record labels have always been an important part of the Row, it's true, but they co-existed with small publishers and other cottage industries, all taking their chances at success.

City officials have closed her alley. Her property is barricaded on three sides. But inside the little brown brick building on Music Row, songwriters are still making music under Joy Ford's tutorage.

After seizing dozens of private properties through eminent domain for years, New Brighton is making it harder on itself to do so. The City Council last week established new guidelines for using eminent domain or condemnation...

The County Commission will soon wade into discussions on the Clarksville Center Redevelopment and Urban Renewal Plan. The commission previously tried to jump into the issue in November during an presentation by plan sponsors from the Downtown District Partnership.

The Metro Council may try to intervene in the seizure of a Music Row business owner's property, under a bill now being readied for debate. The council's attorney has been asked to draw up a measure that would stop eminent domain proceedings against Joy Ford...

For more than three years, Nicholas Sprayregen has kept his word to Columbia University. The largest private landowner in the footprint of the university’s planned 17-acre West Harlem expansion, he has vowed time and again to fight the university’s attempts to oust him, so long as the school threatens the use of eminent domain.

The two remaining parcels of privately owned land in the footprint of Columbia University's proposed expansion are expected to be deemed part of a "blighted" area, according to sources with knowledge of a report that will be presented to and voted on by the Empire State Development Corp. today. Adoption of the report's finding would set the stage for a legal battle over the possible use of eminent domain by the state.