BREAKING NEWS


Please help avert a disaster of imminent domain

I can't believe I forgot to post this the day it happened, but its still relevant news. The Filipino Baptist Church here in Long Beach has been condemned, so it will be torn down. Now for the breaking news part - there doesn't seem to be any reason for condemning the church other than the fact that they will be building condos on the site after they bulldoze the church . (h/t Hughitt)

When Kelo was passed, my first thought (as someone in the leadership of a church who worries about these sorts of things) was "how long until they take a church's property?" If the government can define "public good" as higher tax revenue, then churches (non-profit and thus tax exempt) will be the most worthless properties around. Well, lo and behold, Kelo has come home to roost. I thought it would take longer, and maybe with your help it will (send emails, make phone calls, etc), but here we are.

Here is the email I sent (to the mayor and the director of the redevelopment agency:

I am writing to urge you to rethink your recent decision to condemn the Filipino Fellowship Baptist Church as part of your plans to redevelop Long Beach.  Two of the most deeply held notions of freedom are the right to own property and the freedom of religion.  Your recent decision appears to turn a blind eye to both of these rights.  I say appears because, as I understand the issue, after the church is demolished the site will be used to build new condos.  Even if the church is hopelessly beyond repair, it would be in your best interests to work with them in the redevelopment of their property, rather than the building of something new that would be more lucrative from a tax revenue standpoint for the city.  Even if you have a completely clear conscience on the matter, I ask you to reconsider simply on the grounds of the appearance it will cast on the city of Long Beach and its elected officials.  And even if your decision is pure and does not involve destroying a church for the sake of condos, think of what it will suggest to less scrupulous city officials elsewhere.

I know that one possible explanation is that you have offered to help the church relocate.  Consider, however, how deeply held emotional commitments are to a particular location of a church.  If you destroy this building, you will destroy the physical memory of everyone who was married there, or baptized there.  I know that when I drive by the church where I was married to my wife, it gives me a happy feeling to know that right there I was joined to her.  This profound significance evaporates, even if the church body itself is located in a new building.  The new building would never be the place where I was married.

I do not personally have any commitments to this particular church, nor to the Baptist denomination.  I am not of Filipino descent.  Yet it breaks my heart to think that right here in long beach, the city where I work, people will have their memories destroyed for the sake of new condos.  I believe the words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. who said that injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.  I see in your decision the precedents that would rob me of my freedoms eventually, and I will stand with the media, talk radio and the blogosphere in opposing in every way possible this injustice, should you fail to reconsider your decision.

Please, I humbly beg you to reconsider.  This issue is far larger than a redevelopment project or a set of new condos.  It has repercussions for all of us - even yourselves -  whether we are directly connected or not.

On behalf of the freedoms that make America great,
Brant DeBow
sarcasmagorical@mac.com
http://www.sarcasmagorical.com

UPDATED: I received the following response from Barbara Kaiser, director of the redevelopment agency:
Thank you for your comments. I will provide them to the Redevelopment Agency Board for consideration. bak

Posted: Fri - March 24, 2006 at 02:32 PM | | | | | | |

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