By Michael Hill
Correspondent
From his roof top, Charlie Birnbaum can see the Atlantic Ocean and a sea of vacant land. And from his living room, Birnbaum can record the state of New Jersey leveling another neighborhood property, creating another vacant lot.
“And the corner building is being taken down. Everything that they want to do can still be done. I am not in the way,” he said.
But, since 2012, New Jersey’s Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has pursued Birnbaum’s three-story, 1921 house — the house Birnbaum urged his father to buy in ’69, that Birnbaum himself has maintained for years, the house he’s run his business from to tune pianos at the nightclubs and casinos for Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Kenny G and Julio Iglesias, the house where he proposed to his wife in 1970, the house where his mother came home to convalesce after a stroke and the house where a home intruder killed his mother and her caretaker in ’98.
Despite the tragedy:
“This property has been a refuge for my family,” Birnbaum said.
At a public meeting three years ago, Birnbaum asked the CRDA what would it put on his property in this Atlantic City tourism district.
“And the answer was, ‘We don’t know yet,'” he said.
Birnbaum rejected the CRDA’s appraised value of $238,000 for the house.
“There’s something about this location that no amount of money can or will replace,” he said.
The CRDA sued to take Birnbaum’s house through eminent domain, but not most of the properties on the same block.
Birnbaum and the Institute for Justice argued the CRDA should have to specify what would replace Birnbaum’s house.
“If it was for a school or a road, for a post office, you know, for something that is public use, I would say I get it, I understand and I’m outta here,” Birnbaum said.
In November, state Judge Julio Mendez ruled: “The state of New Jersey’s effort to promote tourism in Atlantic City and assist the ailing gaming industry is a valid public purpose to justify the taking of the Birnbaum property.”
Birnbaum says this cases serves as a warning to other property owners in Atlantic City, that if the state thinks it can legally take take your land, it will.
“And when you own something, you don’t expect that your government is going to say, ‘Well, sorry get out because we can do something better with it.’ And that’s not right, Birnbaum said.
Ron Chen is the acting dean at Rutgers Newark Law School.
“The fact that the plan doesn’t say precisely what the land is going to be used for, I don’t think that’s fatal. But, it does open up an argument for Mr. Birnbaum to make that the agency is acting with an abusive discretion,” Chen said.
The CRDA declined to comment and said its position is clear in the court filings and the judge’s decision, which Birnbaum has appealed.
“I think it’s atrocious,” he said.
The CRDA began pursuing Birnbaum’s and other properties here when the Revel opened and the expectations were soaring.
“This building survived Sandy like a champ, absolutely. This building is saying, ‘Leave me alone!'” Birnbaum said.
Birnbaum says he’s humbled by the 100,000 people who’ve signed a petition supporting him and asking the governor to intervene.
“I would like the governor, who’s a straight shooter, to look at things as they are and say, ‘Let’s stop this nonsense,'” Birnbaum said.
For now, Birnbaum’s hope for the state to change its tune does not interfere with his vow to fight.