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Page: Profile: Wren's Nest News Local
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Article: 19407
[Civil]
Date Posted:
2/22/2008
6:37:11 pm EST
Wvox Stats
Views: 7,390
RSS: 17,836
Comments: 15
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ACLU Files Suit Against Iowa Town Over Parking Regulations
Author: The Associated Press Source: Globe Gazette (IA)
Title: ACLU FILES SUIT AGAINST IOWA TOWN OVER PARKING REGULATIONS
The American Civil Liberties Union of Iowa has sued the city of Leon over a parking ordinance the ALCU said bans everyone but churchgoers from parking on some public streets.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Des Moines on behalf of Donald Jones and David Darling, Leon residents who say an ordinance passed in January 2007 prevents them from parking in front of their house even though others attending church functions can.
The lawsuit alleges that the Leon City Council violated constitutional separation of church and state and religious discrimination rights when they passed the ordinance.
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Community Thoughts: There are 15 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Interesting...Part 2 | Feb 24th. at 1:04:52 am EST
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nasionnaich (Stanchfield, Minnesota) - Email Me
I'm looking at that satellite view of the town again...and I still can't see any "bottleneck" in the area. I do see, however, that the church in question seems to have plenty of on-site parking, and the streets at Tenth & Church (North) are no narrower than any other street in town.
My guess -- and it isn't even a guess, so much as an assumption based on past knowledge and experience -- is the church (es) pushed for the ordinance as a way to "punish" Donald Jones and David Darling (the two who are mentioned in the article) for being "gay". They do seem to share the house across from the CATHOLIC church......
If the parking ban is not enforced in front of the other 15 churches in Leon, Iowa, I would say that there is a discrimination suit in the works.
----nasionnaich
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| If There Is Such A Bottleneck | Feb 23rd. at 4:41:00 pm EST
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Shadowbear (Hillsboro, Oregon) - Email Me
Then, maybe 2 hour parking is appropriate - but not just for those going to the church. That is patently bias. The official they were talking to obviously had no idea that the signs were not doing what she thought they were which was providing that you could park there 2 hours unless you were involved in a church activity in which case you could park longer.
When I was on the planning commission we would have required homeowner parking permits and forbidden parking during the 2 hour street sweeping period for that neighborhood. Churches would be on their own.
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| Old Time Religion | Feb 23rd. at 3:16:23 pm EST
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Baruch Dreamstalker (Oberlin, Ohio) - Email Me
If this town is old enough, many of these churches may have been built before the advent of the automobile.
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| I Think Maybe, | Feb 23rd. at 11:11:45 am EST
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Ursyl (Murrysville, Pennsylvania) - Email Me
if I lived there, with no driveway to park in at my own house, that I'd be converting part of my yard into my own parking space. Then I'd be calling the police every time anyone parked so as to block my access.
I think that it's very irresponsible of the churches to not have considered and built parking for their congregants. They are the ones creating what bottlenecks exist, yet they are not the ones being punished for it.
Besides which, if the street parking is creating bottlenecks and traffic jams, how is the parking for church functions not doing the same? If the issue is safety, how is temporary jamming safe?
If the fire engines cannot get through (what "safety issue" brings to mind) when the residents park, how can they get through when the church-goers are parked? Safety is not important during church???
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| The Churches Can't Manage Their Own Parking? | Feb 23rd. at 10:58:09 am EST
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Lora (Leominster, Massachusetts) - Email Me
Why are churches permitted to build large venues with no parking or planning for the resulting traffic changes? Why were their building permits issued in the first place? Churches don't provide tax revenue to a city, the city allows them to build out of the kindness of the city council's heart.
If I were a city council member meeting with a pastor whinging on about how his congregation can't find parking, I'd tell him to consult the church architect, hand him a brochure about how to organize carpools, and wish him best of luck. Because that's all they're entitled to. You start paying taxes, you start being worthy of the city's civic entitlements. Mayhap a bus service on Sundays could be negotiated, if local residents felt the traffic was still excessive.
How about this: The churches, in a spirit of Christian loving-thy-neighbor, have a bake sale and raise money to buy a bus of their own. They can call it the Church Bus, and drive it around the city on Sunday mornings, picking up their congregations and driving them to church. Church services can be staggered 15 minutes apart, so that the Catholics have their service at 9am, Episcopalians at 9:15, Presbyterians at 9:30, and so on, so that everyone makes it to church on time. Everyone pays, I dunno, $0.25 per ride to pay the driver for his efforts.
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| Enough Time? | Feb 23rd. at 10:22:38 am EST
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Nacine Moonglow (Uehling, Nebraska) - Email Me
I'd like to know what happens when church functions run longer than the 2 hour parking limit. There are 2 churches down the street from my house (I live in a small town in NE) and when there is a funeral especially there can be cars parked along the streets almost all day. What happens then? Since it is 2 hour church parking do the church members need to run out and move their cars? Are they ticketed when the function runs longer than the 2 hour prescribed parking limit? If they are not, why aren't they? These are some questions I'd like answers to within the context of this article.
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| Sanctioned Rudeness? | Feb 23rd. at 9:51:43 am EST
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bigcat (peoria, Illinois) - Email Me
It is difficult enough to try to park when there is a religious function going on. It's even worse when it is in front of one's own house.
While many places do have a driveway, not every house does.Some only have street parking, and one has to wonder where they are supposed to go if the parking is usurped by some churchgoer.
Residents should have a special dispensation to be able to be in front of their own homes. After all-they live there.
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| This Is...Interesting | Feb 23rd. at 2:24:12 am EST
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nasionnaich (Stanchfield, Minnesota) - Email Me
2,000 people in a town with only 16 churches.... Thats a mere 125 people per church -- assuming everyone in that town is a member of a church. Somehow, I don't quite believe everyone is a member of one of those churches...... Even Braham, MN, with a population of approx 1400, has only 5 churches at the most -- and that's a very high estimate.
Beyond that, I am looking at the view of the town, from the perspective of Google Earth, and what I see is interesting. Church Street, mentioned in the article as one of the streets with the signs, is also U.S. Highway 69, a main road through the town. Tenth Street, both South and North, is what would be expected in a small town or city residential area. There is one church at or near the intersection of Church Street/ U.S. Hwy 69 & Tenth Street North (no churches on Tenth & Church South, though) , apparently on the West side of U.S. Hwy 69....
I have to wonder...does the Town Ordinance on a time-limit for parking on the street in front of churches extend to ALL the churches in town -- or is it only for this one church? At "Q" and 2nd Street, there are two churches -- The Church of Christ and The Assembly of God Church -- practically across the street from each other; I expect THAT would create one holy mess of a bottle-neck whenever they have a "function" going on.
I can't see any real evidence of the streets in question "narrowing" or otherwise being a "bottleneck" in front of any of the town's 16 churches.
Oh, the church at U.S. 69 & Tenth in Leon, Iowa? It's St. Brendan's Catholic Church. I guess that explains the "importance" of that church over all the others in town. Guess the Leon Town Council doesn't want to bring the Wrath of the Pope down on themselves.
----nasionnaich
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| First It's Small Towns Then Big | Feb 22nd. at 10:41:38 pm EST
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Rubyglare (Sacramento, California) - Email Me
cities, they're just test-driving this out in the boonies. A town of 2000 with 16 churches sounds poor, only in poor areas do so many churches pop up, I've noticed this pattern elswhere. People who don't have to struggle so much don't turn to supernatural or miraculous sources, except for personal spiritual purposes. I'd like to change some of those churches to high schools, a community center, a native plant garden center, a day care....
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| Planning | Feb 22nd. at 10:10:07 pm EST
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Baruch Dreamstalker (Oberlin, Ohio) - Email Me
This is the reason why cities with rational land-use codes require churches to have off-street parking adjacent or near their buildings.
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| Eh... | Feb 22nd. at 9:11:09 pm EST
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Young Coyote (W. Hempstead, California) - Email Me
I don't think this is the proper way for the ACLU to approach this situation. While they claim that the city ignored their letters, there are other avenues they could have pursued before screaming "lawsuit".
While I don't think that the city should be able to make it a 2-hour "church services only" parking, I can understand their need to cut-down on traffic congestion. It's a legit concern, but it should be a general 2-hour parking zone. So at most I think the ACLU can only change what the sign says.
However, people who live on the block should have a right to park there. Maybe have a special permit they can place on the window of their car or something so the police know that it is a resident. I know there are instances where a resident isn't suppose to park in front of his/her house, but those typically have to do with street cleaning or the like and only affect the resident for a few hours a week. To be denied parking 24/7 in front of your own house because you aren't attending a religious service is a bit much.
One of the previous posters made a good point though; it would help if we could see what the ordinance actually says.
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| Wrong Suit | Feb 22nd. at 8:24:27 pm EST
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Ahr-Ohn (Bridgeport, Connecticut) - Email Me
" Prior to enactment of the proposed ordinance, Jones appeared at a City Council meeting to oppose the ordinance and the ACLU of Iowa said it wrote two letters to the city asking it to regulate parking in a ``religiously neutral way'' but the letters were ignored.
The city has posted signs along Church Street and Tenth Street which say: ``2 Hour Church Parking Only.''
The ACLU can only ask for a change of sign. The actual ordnance doesn't proscribe 2-hour brothel parking, or attendance of Wiccan Circles at the Unitarian Universalists.
Properly, this couple probably had parking privileges understood, at the time the house was purchased, and that could only be taken away by the procedures of Eminent Domain.
Essentially, they're providing institutional parking, to prevent traffic jams, that would otherwise be caused by those institutions, rather than reasonable zoning enforcement. Those Churches have to invest in real parking, if they want to host public services.
Arawn
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| That's A Stretch | Feb 22nd. at 7:58:24 pm EST
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Jain (Baltimore, Maryland) - Email Me
It's not really about being a church member. The street sign says "2 Hour church parking only" meaning nobody can park there continually; it's temporary parking good for no more than 2 hours. The church is a public building that occasionally has to have parking. It's a bummer not to be able to park in front of your own house, but it's not aimed at anybody nor does it restrict anybody, as long as they move within 2 hours. We have "church parking" on Sundays in places ordinarily not allowed, and there were times when I couldn't park on my street because it was blocked off for a funeral, but it was't unfairly aimed at me - it's a fact of life that parking sucks.
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