Judge Korman
http://nycourts.law.com/CourtDocumentViewer.asp?view=Document&docID=118379
NEW YORK CITY invested little money in the infrastructure of Willets Point, an industrially zoned Queens neighborhood that suffers from numerous, significant infrastructure deficiencies. Since 1999, plaintiff, an association of local businesses in Willets Point, has met with various city representatives and agencies, pleading for improvements. Its instant lawsuit—asserting equal protection and due process violations—challenged the city’s 2007 $3 billion plan to transform the “largely underutilized” area into a mixed-use community. Despite the plan’s contemplated improvements, plaintiff argued the city’s plan to condemn and rezone Willets Point and replace its existing businesses was only the latest iteration of its policy of neglecting the neighborhood in order to drive down property values to facilitate the city’s future eminent domain acquisition of Willets Point at a discount. After an Iqbal analysis, the court dismissed plaintiff’s claims, ruling that 42 USC §1983 was not enacted to involve federal judges in resolving what is a dispute between elected city officials and a group of small businesses over the manner in which a neighborhood should be developed.