Dear Editor:

Picking up a copy of the Hoboken Reporter at the Shop Rite today, I was horrified to learn that eminent domain has finally seized Hoboken.

A horrible scare left on me growing up in the 1960's was when 'Urban Renewal' leveled about a third of my hometown in Oceanport, NJ. The townspeople were paid off by the government to surrender over their property. What once was a charming 'Andy-of-Mayberry' downtown with an 1840's hotel, was leveled and become a huge housing project for poor people.

Like 1960's urban renewal, 21st century eminent domain is just displacing one group of people for another. This is wrong, and I truly hope that the owners of Kwitman & Son and U-Store-It win their court battle or your home could be next! Remember the fat cat developers, who have free reign thanks to our Mayor, and the real estate companies are the ones who have nothing to lose. Us, the citizens of Hoboken, have everything to lose!

John Heliker