On Oct. 8, Randal Acker, an attorney and the owner of the Figo House—the only historic home remaining at the College Station site on the outskirts of the Portland State campus—joined documentary filmmaker MichaelGalinsky for a showing of his film, Battle for Brooklyn, at the Hollywood Theatre in Northeast Portland.
On Oct. 8, Randal Acker, an attorney and the owner of the Figo House—the only historic home remaining at the College Station site on the outskirts of the Portland State campus—joined documentary filmmaker MichaelGalinsky for a showing of his film, Battle for Brooklyn, at the Hollywood Theatre in Northeast Portland.
The Figo House, an 1894 Queen Anne Victorian and currently Acker’s law firm office, rose to fame in 2006 after TriMet attempted to seize and destroy the home in order to construct the MAX lines and turnaround located on Southwest Fifth and Sixth Avenues.
According to Acker, TriMet was also negotiating a private deal with Portland State to not only seize his property but also to then sell it to the university, so that the College Station dormitory could be built. After nearly two years of negotiating with the state, Acker was allowed to keep his house when TriMet decided it was no longer interested in seizing the property.
Both the Figo House saga and the events presented in Battle are stories focused on the sometimes controversial legal power of eminent domain.
According to PSU assistant professor of Political Science Christopher Shortell, eminent domain is a power vested in the fifth and fourteenth amendments of the U.S. Constitution, giving a state agency the right to seize private property for the greater public interest even if the owner of that property is unwilling.
The state must provide just compensation for the property it wishes to seize, and must conduct an environmental survey of the area. However, Shortell said that the power of eminent domain can carry a negative connotation due to the varying opinions as to what constitutes public interest.
Battle for Brooklyn follows the story of a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, that was seized by the state and given to a private developing company which then bulldozed the existing structures in order to build an arena for the professional basketball team, the New Jersey Nets.
Filmmaker Galinsky first heard about Acker’s struggle with eminent domain when the lawyer attached hundreds of colored balloons to the roof of the Figo House—an invocation of the home portrayed in the Disney animated film Up. The stunt garnered extensive media coverage and made Acker’s story international news. Galinsky and Acker corresponded with each other via email, and met for the first time when Galinsky screened Battle for Brooklyn at the Hollywood Theatre.
Galinsky has traveled the country with his documentary, connecting the story of Battle for Brooklyn to similar local stories in the communities where he shows his film. After the film screening, both Acker and Galinsky fielded audience questions regarding their respective stories.
During the question and answer session, Acker said that the use of his land for PSU campus expansion wasn’t what he took issue with. For him, it was the clandestine maneuvering and secrecy surrounding the attempted acquisition of his property that was disconcerting. “It was an issue of honesty,” Acker said.
Despite the previous controversy, Acker doesn’t view the new dormitory building negatively. He believes that the construction is improving the surrounding blocks both aesthetically and, once the retail outlets in College Station are established, economically.
Acker even said that the alterations made to the College Station design to protect the Figo House have improved his lot, and that, furthermore, the publicity surrounding the Figo House controversy “hasn’t been bad for business.”
Mark Gregory, Portland State associate vice president of Finance and Administration, said that PSU has worked extensively with Acker to ensure that College Station does not negatively affect Acker’s property.
“[College Station] was modified to accommodate the house. In fact, it is more accurate to say that the house defined the way the western half of the [new] building looks. We worked with Mr. Acker to define the areas around his house, then took steps to protect the house during construction,” Gregory said.
