Last week, the City Council of Asbury Park, N.J., announced it will not use eminent domain in its controversial Main Street Redevelopment Area. Earlier this month, Kerry Butch – a local activist and Associate Producer of Greetings from Asbury Park – organized the property owners with the help of the Castle Coalition. The new group, Main Street Business Alliance, showed up at the next City Council meeting ready to make thier voices heard when the city announced it would send the plan back to the Planning Board.
Kerry wasn’t affected by the plan, but was outraged by the ongoing abuse of eminent domain in Asbury Park and decided to do something about it. She printed up flyers and went door-to-door inviting business owners to a community meeting, where we educated attendees about what they can do to protect their businesses from being seized for rich developers.
Cheers to Kerry for standing up for property rights – efforts like hers are what will finally bring a stop to eminent domain abuse nationwide!