MTOTSA rally draws hundreds
Crowd turns out to support residents facing eminent domain
BY CHRISTINE VARNO
Staff Writer

MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Protesters, young and old, participate in a walk and rally in Long Branch Saturday to support residents of Marine and Ocean Terraces and Seaview Avenue who are facing loss of their homes through eminent domain.

Supporters from Monmouth County and beyond rallied at the Long Branch oceanfront Saturday for what one resident described as a “march for freedom and liberty.”

On the first sunny day after a week of torrential downpours, more than 300 people gathered in the neighborhood of Marine and Ocean Terraces and Seaview Avenue — an area that has come to be known as MTOTSA — for a rally to combat eminent domain abuse.

The crowd was made up of more than just the residents of the 38 properties in the three-street neighborhood threatened by eminent domain, according to Bill Giordano, an active member of the MTOTSA alliance.

“I not only see friends of MTOTSA here, I see friends of property rights, friends of civil rights and friends of liberty,” he said at a rally following the march.

Among those who attended the rally were residents fighting eminent domain in Neptune, Newark and Bound Brook as well as residents of nearby towns like Middletown and Tinton Falls who said they had come to show support for the Long Branch residents facing loss of their homes to redevelopment.

“I live here with my three daughters and my husband, and my home is not for sale,” Denise Hoagland said at the rally.

The rally was kicked off by a walk, which began on Seaview Avenue and proceeded down the Promenade, up Morris Avenue to Ocean Boulevard, and back to Seaview Avenue.

Many in the crowd carried signs that read “End Eminent Domain Abuse,” “Families Stay, Condos Go,” Our Homes Are Not For Sale,” and “Don’t Think You Have Won, We Are Not Nearly Done.”

A representative from the Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit law firm based in Washington, D.C., that specializes in the protection of private property rights when eminent domain is exercised for uses other than public benefit, was among several speakers at the rally.

“The condemnation in Long Branch is one of the worst examples of eminent

domain abuse in the country,” IJ senior attorney Dana Berlinger said.

“The city is taking this neighborhood because it wants richer people. It is unconstitutional and it is wrong,” she said.

Berliner added that IJ has been working closely with MTOTSA residents for more than a year, and once litigation begins between the residents and the city, IJ will look into representing their case.

Berliner represented Suzette Kelo, the plaintiff in Kelo v. New London in arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in June in favor of New London taking private property for redevelopment in the Kelo case.

Plans for MTOTSA call for the neighborhood to be bulldozed and replaced with luxury condominiums and townhouses by designated redeveloper MM-Beachfront North II, made up of co-developers Matzel & Mumford, a division of K. Hovnanian, Middletown, and the Applied Cos., Hoboken.

MTOTSA retained Peter H. Wegener of Bathgate, Wegener and Wolf, Lakewood, to represent approximately 20 property owners in their fight against what the alliance says is an abuse of the city’s power to use eminent domain to clear the way for redevelopment.

A resident from another of the six redevelopment zones in the city came to the rally to support MTOTSA because her oceanfront home in Long Branch is also slated for eminent domain.

“It is time to take back our rights,” said Michelle Bobrow, Ocean Avenue.

She and her husband, Harold, own a condo in the Beachfront South redevelopment zone and are founders of the Beachfront South Coalition.

“It is time to become masters of our own properties. The tide is changing. The time has come for reform and that time is now,” Bobrow said.

Giordano added that the rally was not just about saving the homes in MTOTSA.

“It is about property rights across the country,” he said. “We will not abandon our homes and we will not forfeit our rights. We will not sacrifice our freedom. You really recognize what liberty is when someone tries to take it from you.”

The two 11th District Democratic Assembly candidates Matt Doherty and Jim Reilly walked alongside the citizens at the rally.

“The taking of these homes is the most un-American thing I have ever been exposed to,” Reilly said. “This is government at its worst. I hope to lend my support to these people.”

Reilly and Doherty have called on acting Gov. Richard J. Codey to enact an immediate statewide moratorium on all types of eminent domain use until the state Legislature can reconvene and pass into law a comprehensive Homeowners Protection Act, according to Reilly.

“If eminent domain can happen in [MTOTSA], it can happen anywhere,” Doherty said. “Jim and I are 100 percent opposed to this use of eminent domain.”

Brian Unger, Green Party candidate for Freeholder, was also at the rally. Unger has made opposition to eminent domain a part of his platform.

A Long Branch resident who joined the rally to show support said the use of eminent domain in MTOTSA is “just a sad situation in this country.”

“People need to be heard,” Bill McLaughlin, Ocean Avenue, said. “A person’s home should not be taken to make a developer richer. It is wrong. This is wrong.”