The GCF is still technically under cease and desist orders from the County for practicing their 1st amendment right to peaceably assemble and worship as the building in which the 50-member GCF congregates is zoned for a bar instead of a church and knowing that is certainly a disastrous tactic by which to attack the Fellowship, it appears the County has resorted to harrassment in the form of site inspections, instead.
(For some background on this whole fiasco, click here)
The church resumed services at the building Aug. 10, but four days later a county inspection found unsafe wiring and lighting, an improperly installed furnace and water heater and an unsafe doorway, according to a letter to the church from Senior Deputy County Counsel Eliot Alazraki. Those violations, and many others, create fire and safety hazards, Alazraki said.
My god… not an unsafe doorway!
Church attorney Peter Lepiscopo said he believed the county used “heavy-handed tactics”
The church has been meeting at members' homes since the county inspection. Pastor Stan Peterson said he did not believe the violations were major and hoped to return to the building within a month or so
In our line of work, what the County is finding is akin to “underway restrictives” which if looked for long and hard enough, one will find.
Pastor Stan advised the congregation two Sundays ago when we were out there to not get angry at the County… “….they aren’t stupid, they just do stupid stuff sometimes”.
We respect the admonition but its becoming more and more difficult to bestow any grace upon the County when they have had ample opportunity to pull their head out of their ass and politely drop the whole matter but rather continue to fight a petty and nettlesome rear-guard action when they know they don’t have a legal, ethical or common sensical leg upon which to stand.
Hey, Eliot Alazraki... Yeah, Johnny's on the phone... he says, "hi"
Story here
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Guatay Christian Fellowship Update
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6 comments:
I'm totally against zoning laws.
I know, I know, they can sometimes be useful...but the arguments against a bar in a housing area are the same as those against, oh, 20-somethings in a housing area.
That said-- they they actually *do* have unsafe wiring, an unsafe furnace and an unsafe doorway-- probably means not wheelchair accessible-- that's a problem.
Foxie, in a vacuum, I'd probably agree with you but having followed this and having gone out to visit the church and speak to some of the people, I cannot give the benefit of the doubt to the County.
Imho, they know they will take a beating if they try to enforce the zoning law so they are resorting to finding "violations" at the site, instead, to save face.
An experienced inspector can probably find violations in any building he inspects... ones that he may deem serious enough to shut down that building. And an experienced inspector with an agenda..? with marching orders...?
*evil grin* Of course, if they're finding these things *because* they don't want folks to gather there....
That's by definition harassment, isn't it?
*evil grin* Of course, if they're finding these things *because* they don't want folks to gather there....
That's by definition harassment, isn't it?
You people should read the entire story before going off on the County. The guilty party is the trailer park owner who is a slumlord. The County found he had tons of violations and the park was run down. The park owner is also renting a beatup and unsafe building to the church that is a fire hazard. The County is trying to protect the people in the church who did not know the building is a firetrap. Former County Supervisor and talk show big mouth Hedgecock voted for the County Zoning law the County is using. Why are you giving him a free pass on this? Let's get to the truth people, even though you would rather go off on the County for doing its job. Who are you going blame when the guy in the wheel chair dies from the fire, because he gets stuck in the doorway trying to escape? Think people.
Sundiegoman, Thanks for stopping by.
I'm assuming you've been out to the building. And since you obviously have to be able to pass judgement, I'll have to respectfully disagreee as I too have been out there and saw no "beat up and run down building".
What I saw was a clean, well-maintained, well-lit main worship hall of approx. 1,000 sq. ft. and from the amount of people inside, I felt all could be safely evacuated as quickly as possible given whatever the circumstance.
I'll let you do the homework but whenever I think of the proverbial "guy in the wheelchair blocking the exit" I think of soccer stadiums, rock concerts, and dimly-lit night clubs and restaurants with stoned and/or drunk patrons who couldn't get out of their own way if they tried... "burning churches" are pretty far down the list of structural death traps.
One has to be completely tone-deaf to not realize there is a tremendoous amount of agenda-driven politics going on here.
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