Another consideration about this is the scandal of the Korean evangelical churches in West Adams, the Jewish synogogues in Larchmont / Hancock Park -- the problems of being near any place of worship,
versus the problems of being near a place of worship where you choose not to worship.
You know, you can't be excommunicated if you do not believe.
Now, a lot is written about these churches! Why? Because they are small enough to start in single family homes, very often in large single family homes in transitional neighborhoods. But the NIMBYs may have a point beyond traffic and tax revenue: the Korean church down from another house we rejected (due to freeway adjacency -- lost to a fundamentalist Christian couple home schooling their large family) operates a soup kitchen out of the residence they illegally occupy. Another house we made a bid on was two doors down from an apartment building being turned into low income housing by the Roman Catholic Church (connected with Mount St. Mary's Doheny Estate campus). My husband was shocked and alarmed to find food being handed out in front of the house one day when he drove back to see it -- we were considering our counter offer (which we did not make). Now, this is of course a very upper middle class problem. But, when you're spending nearly a million dollars at the top of the market, such that you are guaranteed to lose two or three years wages during the course of occupancy, but may not be able to resell at all... these issues become very fraught.
Hancock Park Shul War Back in Court
The new 8,150-square-foot-shul at the corner of Highland Avenue and Third Street is the subject of lawsuits by neighbors and the city. (This is about three miles down Third from St. Brendan's.)
The rabbi of a small, embattled congregation is charging that anti-Semites and self-hating Jews are using zoning laws to get Orthodox Jews out of Hancock Park as an epic eight-year legal battle heads back to court.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=10929
The Subcommittee heard testimony regarding a study conducted at Brigham Young University finding that Jews, small Christian denominations, and nondenominational churches are vastly over represented in reported church zoning cases.(16) The testimony included discussion of a pattern of abuse that exists among land use authorities who deny many religious groups their right to free exercise, often using mere pretexts (such as traffic, safety, or behavioral concerns) to mask the actual goal of prohibiting constitutionally protected religious activity.(17) Religious groups accounting for only 9% of the population account for 50% of the reported litigation involving location of churches, and 34% of the reported litigation involving accessory uses at existing churches.(18) These small groups plus unaffiliated and nondenominational churches account for 69% of the reported location cases and 51% of the reported accessory use cases.(19) Jews account for only 2% of the population, but 20% of the reported location cases and 17% of the reported accessory use cases .(20)
http://www.house.gov/judiciary/zoning.htm
versus the problems of being near a place of worship where you choose not to worship.
You know, you can't be excommunicated if you do not believe.
Now, a lot is written about these churches! Why? Because they are small enough to start in single family homes, very often in large single family homes in transitional neighborhoods. But the NIMBYs may have a point beyond traffic and tax revenue: the Korean church down from another house we rejected (due to freeway adjacency -- lost to a fundamentalist Christian couple home schooling their large family) operates a soup kitchen out of the residence they illegally occupy. Another house we made a bid on was two doors down from an apartment building being turned into low income housing by the Roman Catholic Church (connected with Mount St. Mary's Doheny Estate campus). My husband was shocked and alarmed to find food being handed out in front of the house one day when he drove back to see it -- we were considering our counter offer (which we did not make). Now, this is of course a very upper middle class problem. But, when you're spending nearly a million dollars at the top of the market, such that you are guaranteed to lose two or three years wages during the course of occupancy, but may not be able to resell at all... these issues become very fraught.
Hancock Park Shul War Back in Court
The new 8,150-square-foot-shul at the corner of Highland Avenue and Third Street is the subject of lawsuits by neighbors and the city. (This is about three miles down Third from St. Brendan's.)
The rabbi of a small, embattled congregation is charging that anti-Semites and self-hating Jews are using zoning laws to get Orthodox Jews out of Hancock Park as an epic eight-year legal battle heads back to court.
http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=10929
The Subcommittee heard testimony regarding a study conducted at Brigham Young University finding that Jews, small Christian denominations, and nondenominational churches are vastly over represented in reported church zoning cases.(16) The testimony included discussion of a pattern of abuse that exists among land use authorities who deny many religious groups their right to free exercise, often using mere pretexts (such as traffic, safety, or behavioral concerns) to mask the actual goal of prohibiting constitutionally protected religious activity.(17) Religious groups accounting for only 9% of the population account for 50% of the reported litigation involving location of churches, and 34% of the reported litigation involving accessory uses at existing churches.(18) These small groups plus unaffiliated and nondenominational churches account for 69% of the reported location cases and 51% of the reported accessory use cases.(19) Jews account for only 2% of the population, but 20% of the reported location cases and 17% of the reported accessory use cases .(20)
http://www.house.gov/judiciary/zoning.htm
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