Mayor Bloomberg Suddenly Gets Religion on Private Property

Will Wilkinson names Michael Bloomberg "Hero of the day" for pointing out that there's no legal way to stop the Cordoba Initiative from using private property to house a mosque near Ground Zero.  All I can say is, I'm glad to hear that Michael Bloomberg has suddenly discovered that there are some restrictions on the government's ability to dictate the uses of private property.

Update.  No, I don't approve of the furor over the mosque; I understand why others are troubled by the symbolism, but it seems to be that the important bit of symbolism is that America does not collectively punish minority groups for the sins of a few members--no, not even in trivial ways.   

But this is ultimately a non-issue; no one is going to stop the mosque from opening.  Mayor Bloomberg's trampling on property rights, meanwhile, has already affected large numbers of private property owners, and I think that it's sneer-worthy. 

I realize it's gauche for me to focus on actual harm, and Bloomberg's hypocrisy about it, when I could be charging into the latest skirmish of the culture war, but there you are; for that wacky few who actually think property rights are an important principle, cases like Kelo and Atlantic Yards matter more than what Sarah Palin writes on her facebook page.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2010/08/mayor-bloomberg-suddenly-gets-religion-on-private-property/60917/