I think you can make a case for targeting Columbia in particular, even to the exclusion of other schools.<p>Columbia was a major beneficiary of the city's power of eminent domain in the early 2000s, killing small business and other local flavor in favor of their expansion and planned urban renewal, which is kind of slimy already. The big arguments were that it couldn't expand and maintain its status without it.<p>So now time to pay the piper. All those places used to pay property taxes, now they don't.<p>"In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling that barred the state from using its power of eminent domain to take private property in the 17-acre expansion zone west of Broadway without the property owner’s consent. The ruling held that the courts must give deference to the state’s determination that the area was “blighted” and that condemnation on behalf of a university served a public purpose, two requirements under the law.<p>Lee Bollinger, the president of Columbia University, said he was grateful for the state’s hard work in the case. “This is an extremely important moment in the history of Columbia,” he said. “It’s only fair to say that the opportunity to build a new campus comes along very rarely.”"<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/nyregion/25columbia.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/nyregion/25columbia.html</a>