Tribe: Plaza Grandstanding Unconstitutional

You know you’ve got trouble when Constitutional whiz Laurence Tribe (who on an admittedly imperfect liberal-conservative axis is like the polar opposite of, say, Antonin Scalia) says your bill is likely unconstitutional:

One of the nation’s leading constitutional scholars is scheduled to testify today that a bill aimed at halting the conversion of The Plaza hotel to condos is illegal.

“I started with an open mind,” said Harvard University Professor Laurence Tribe. “I was retained to do an analysis. I have concluded it’s unconstitutional.”

The legislation would prevent hotel owners from converting more than 20 percent of their rooms to condos or co-ops.

Tribe, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on the Constitution, performed the analysis for Elad Properties, which wants to convert part of the hotel to condos.

At the behest of the hotel workers union, the City Council is considering a bill that would ban such conversions except in cases of financial distress.

Tribe will testify before the council’s Economic Development Subcommittee today.

Tribe said in an interview that the council’s action amounts to the taking of private property by a government body, for which there must be just compensation.

“Here, there is no compensation, and that’s what makes it unconstitutional,” he said.

Will this stop the Council from moving ahead with the bill and wasting everyone’s time and money? Probably not . . . but at least they can tell the unions they tried!