N.Y. General Municipal Law § 970-b: Legislative findings and declaration

§ 970-b. Legislative findings and declaration. It is hereby found and

declared that there exists in many communities blighted areas which

threaten the economic and social well-being of the people of the state.

Blighted areas are characterized by one or more of the conditions set

forth in subdivision (a) of section nine hundred seventy-c of this

article.

It is further found and declared that such conditions of blight tend

to further obsolescence, deterioration and disuse and that remedying

such conditions is necessary to facilitate commercial and industrial

development, to maintain and expand the supply of low and

moderate-income housing and to maintain and expand employment

opportunities for jobless, underemployed and low income persons.

For these reasons it is declared to be the policy of the state to

protect and promote the sound development and redevelopment of blighted

areas and whenever the redevelopment of such areas cannot be

accomplished by private enterprise alone without public participation

and assistance in the acquisition of land, in planning and in the

financing of land assembly, in the work of clearance, and in the making

of improvements necessary therefor, it is in the public interest to

employ the power of eminent domain, to advance or expend public funds

for these purposes, and to provide a means by which blighted areas may

be redeveloped or rehabilitated.

It is further found and declared that sound development and

redevelopment of blighted areas increases public school enrollment by

providing affordable housing and employment opportunities and the need

for expanded public education facilities and services.