What must be one of the more bizarre disputes over eminent domain is fomenting on Long Island's posh Gold
Coast. (That's the North Shore, for the unenlightened.) Seems the Village of North Hills is mulling condemnation
of privately owned Deepdale Golf Club (initiation $100,000) so the village can develop a ... golf course. Oh, the
new club would be public, but it would be reserved for residents. Not that residents are links-deprived (or
deprived of anything, considering that North Hills is judged the wealthiest community in the Northeast). There
are five municipal courses within chauffeuring distance.
Deepdale has sued to head off seizure. And well it should, because if the village goes through with
condemnation, its elders stand to become a symbol for the eminent-domain abuses Americans have tried to ban
since the Supreme Court ruled government can take property for seemingly any arguably beneficial use, public
or private.
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