Neighbors Rally to Defeat Condemnation Plans in New Brunswick
Bob and Eileen Albert own the Court Tavern in New Brunswick. The bar has been the Albert family business for decades, but since Bob and Eileen took over in 1981, they have booked popular bands and helped turn the area into a popular nightspot. When local developer Omar Boraie decided to build a project next to the Court Tavern with 100 condominiums, an office building and parking deck, he asked the City to condemn the bar to accommodate his project. After the New Brunswick Planning Board backed Boraie’s plan, the Alberts organized over 250 people, who packed a public meeting on the project to protest the possible taking. Bowing to this public pressure, the City Council in April 2001 declined to allow the use of eminent domain for Boraie’s development.1
1 Sharon Waters, “Small-Business Owners Fight City’s Big Plans,” Home News Tribune (East Brunswick, N.J.), Dec. 15, 2002, at A1.