Trump colluded with Atlantic City insiders to bulldoze the home of an elderly widow. It didn't say that he succeeded.
Donald Trump and Eminent Domain
That brings us to the story of the aforementioned elderly widow in Atlantic City, which starts at about the same time. The woman, Vera Coking, had owned property near the Trump Plaza Hotel for three decades, and didn’t want to move. Trump thought the land was better suited for use as a park, a parking lot, and a waiting area for limousines.
He tried to negotiate, at one point offering Coking $1 million for the land. But she wasn’t budging. So New Jersey’s Casino Reinvestment Development Authority filed a lawsuit, instructing Coking to leave within 90 days and offering compensation of only $251,000.
Perhaps the only upside to this story is that in neither case did Trump succeed. The Bridgeport plan fizzled. Coking fought in court, and — in part because these were the days before Kelo was decided, no doubt — she was lucky enough to win. In 1998, a judge threw out the case.
He didn’t bulldoze the house.
And, actually Trump exposed the hypocrites: The Keystone Pipeline goes to PRIVATE refineries.
So Vera lost about 900,000 dollars by refusing his offer. Her property is now garbage in a bankrupt city. Poor thing.