The forum “Public Use or Private Giveaway? Eminent Domain, Takings, and Land Use Politics in a Post-Kelo World” will be presented Tuesday, December 6, 2005, at Carol Rennebohm Auditorium of Old Music Hall on the UW-Madison campus, from 7 to 9 p.m.

John Norquist, president and CEO of Congress for New Urbanism and former mayor of Milwaukee, will join Paul Farmer, executive director for the American Planning Association, in discussing issues raised by this controversial land-use case.  Professor Neil Komesar of the UW Law School will contribute additional remarks.

Professor Harvey Jacobs of the Department of Urban and Regional Planning and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies will moderate the discussion. Ample time will be allowed for public comment and questions.

The event is co-sponsored by the Environmental Law Society of the University of Wisconsin Law School, Wisconsin Student Planning Association, the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Planning Association, Students for New Urbanism, and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning.

The Supreme Court recently decided the controversial case Kelo v. New London, which allows governments to condemn private property for commercial redevelopment projects in a 5-4 vote. Historically, eminent domain has been used to condemn property for certain public uses, like building roads, bridges and schools and redeveloping blighted areas. The Kelo decision expands the scope of public use to include economic development in non-blighted areas that will increase a community's tax revenue and potentially create jobs.

For more information, contact Debra Baesemann, dlbaesem@wisc.edu or 608-251-1413.