The New York City Council has passed a measure that’s clearly laying the groundwork for the eventual government seizure of private property. The “Community Opportunity for Purchase Act” (COPA) requires some property owners to delay putting their properties on the open market for 90 days so “community land trusts” and nonprofits have an exclusive shot at buying them first.
But the new legislation, which was recycled by progressive Brooklyn lawmaker Sandy Nurse earlier this year, is a watered-down version of a prior proposal that included a much larger number of properties.
Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens) called the bill’s initial proposal an “attack on private real-estate ownership” in the five boroughs.
“We’re sliding headfirst into a communist dystopia where the government and their apparatchik developers own all the property, and the rest of us get forced into perpetual rentorship, and this legislation is helping to get us there even quicker,” Ariola said at the time.
The tweaks brought some real estate groups on board with the legislation.
It’s absolutely an attack on private real estate ownership. As of right now, this legislation impacts about 2,100 New York City buildings, down from 10,000 under the previous version of the bill. Former Mayor Eric Adams vetoed similar legislation before leaving office.
