Controversy in Palo's Heights On May 16, 2000, the Palos Heights City Council met to determine who would gain possession of the Reformed Church of Palos Heights. Seven months of meetings and controversy over the sale of the Reformed Church of Palos Heights had left church officials again unsure of who would buy the property and when. The Reformed Church, 6600 W. 127th St., had been for sale for approximately two years, as the growing congregation planned to build a larger church on Bell Road in Lemont Township. Church officials found themselves back where they were during the previous spring, when the Al Salam Mosque Foundation of Chicago announced that it would buy the Reformed Church for $2.1 million. The contract sparked a major controversy, with some Palos Heights residents opposing a mosque and some city officials trying to get the city to buy the church for use as a recreation center. The sale of the church to the Al Salam Mosque Foundation would mean a loss for the Recreation Department who had used the buildings and parking lot for some time. It would also produce a great increase in population and traffic in the area surrounding the church. The city wished to purchase the property, which had been on the market and vacant for an extended period of time. Aldermen of Palos Heights approved offering the mosque foundation $200,000 to drop its plan to buy the church. Mosque officials agreed, however, Mayor Dean Koldenhoven vetoed the city council's offer. The mosque foundation last month backed out of its contract and filed a $6.2 million civil rights lawsuit against the city. The political coalition which was the major player in in favor of the city purchasing the Reformed Church of Palos Heights was the... ... middle of paper ... ...s a lot of close votes, but no means no and the people have said no, we have to respect that. That's the democratic process. We will proceed with plans for (more) recreation (space) without the church." (http://www.palosheights.org/) The issue of purchasing the Reformed Church of Palos Heights exemplified that the citizens are the ones who run the city. The citizens made their presence known in the City Council meetings as well as in the media. The Aldermen attempted to first bribe the Al Salam Mosque Foundation of Chicago with $200,000, and then to purchase the Reformed Church of Palos Heights. The Mayor sided with the people and vetoed the idea of paying $200,000 to the Al Salam Mosque Foundation of Chicago. In the end, the democratic policies on which our country was founded prevailed. The voices of the citizens were heard with a vote AGAINST: 2,856.
In today’s society, American citizens tend to believe that America has been, “American” since the day that Christopher Columbus set foot in the Bahamas. This is a myth that has been in our society for a multitude of years now. In A New England Town by Kenneth A. Lockridge, he proves that America was not always democratic. Additionally, he proves that America has not always been “American”, by presenting the town of Dedham in 1635. Lockridge presents this town through the course of over one hundred years, in that time many changes happened as it made its way to a type of democracy.
Haslett Community Church continued holding services above the Township Hall, but as attendance grew, a building committee was appointed on December 9, 1954, to plan for the church’s own building. Building plans progressed rapidly, and on January 21, 1955, a church building site was selected and purchased for $3,500. Those involved in the early days of the Haslett Community Church were united in their purpose and included persons with many vocations – plumbers, electricians, painters,...
The Schempp family, whose kids went to school in the township, followed Unitarianism, and did disagree with some of the ideas in the Bible. However, they did not want their children to miss prayer because they would miss the important announcements that followed. They brought the case to a state court, and the court ruled that prayer in fact did violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Next, they appealed to the Supreme Court.
Stressors in the community is the real estate developer who proposed the development plan. The plan has added conflict between community organizations that don’t agree on the plan. Some members of community see that the plan can bring change to the community that will better life for the community. They see the plan will lead to a reestablished community with new order and hope. They also see that there will be new employment opportunities and stabilization in the areas. Those against the plan feel like there is a lack of trust with the developer since he has been buying properties from the community for several years without consulting the residents. They also don’t agree with the design of the plan and the for-profit real estate agent. The
people have been living there for a for a long time and he does not want the
Years ago, there was once a small town called Chaves Ravine within Los Angeles, California and this town was a poor rural community that was always full of life. Two hundred families, mostly Chicano families, were living here quite peacefully until the Housing Act of 1949 was passed. The Federal Housing Act of 1949 granted money to cities from the federal government to build public housing projects for the low income. Los Angeles was one of the first cities to receive the funds for project. Unfortunately, Chavez Ravine was one of the sites chosen for the housing project, so, to prepare for the construction work of the low-income apartments, the Housing Authority of Los Angeles had to convince the people of the ravine to leave, or forcibly oust them from their property. Since Chavez Ravine was to be used for public use, the Housing Authority of Los Angeles was able seize and buy Chavez Ravine from the property owners and evict whoever stayed behind with the help of Eminent Domain. The LA Housing Authority had told the inhabitants that low-income housing was to be built on the land, but, because of a sequence of events, the public housing project was never built there and instead Dodgers Stadium was built on Chavez Ravine. Although Chavez Ravine public housing project was the result of the goodwill and intent of the government, rather than helping the people Chavez Ravine with their promise of low-income housing, the project ended up destroying many of their lives because of those in opposition of the public housing project and government mismanagement.
Schiller, W. J., Geer, J. G., & Segal, J. A. (2013). Gateways to democracy: introduction to American government, the essentials. (2nd ed.). Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth ;.
The other owners in the neighborhood white , agreed to restrict colored people from buying houses in the neighborhood. Shelley had no knowledge of what the owners had done. He was not pleased with their ignorance.The circuit court declined to enforce the agreement on the basis that not all of the property owners had signed the covenant. Then Shelley appealed the case to the United States Supreme Court, which had no experience of a case like this before. The final decision was that any court may not constitutionally enforce a "restrictive covenant" which she prevents people of any particular race from buying
The Supreme Court has adopted a standard of neutrality to satisfy the Establishment Clause stating: neither federal or state government can enact laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another, and neither can force nor influence a person to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. Everson v. Bd. of Educ., 330 U.S. 1, 15 (1947). The means that the Martin County Board cannot actively endorse any one particular religion over another and also cannot restrict any one particular religion. See Marsh v. Chambers, 463 U.S. 794, 795 (1983). It must remain religiously neutral. Id. at 795. The Martin County Board’s meeting practice of offering a prayer before its board meetings violates the Establishment Clause because they provided strong sectarian references in their invocations, endorsed Christianity, and coerced those in attendance to participate in the prayers.
After years of gathering at each other’s homes to perform congregational prayers, Azhar Ali Shah and Majid Qureshi, two founding members of the small group, decided that a proper mosque was needed to accommodate the growing community, which was now at about 40+ members. Mr. Shah held a meeting with the other Muslims and announced a plan to begin collecting funds to finance the purchase of a building to be used as a mosque. It was necessary to collect the money upfront because in Islam, interest (on loans, etc.) is not permitted. In 1974, after almost two years of collecting donations from various sources, enough funding was on hand to purchase a former residence that would be used as a mosque. This mosque was located on McMillan Avenue near Clifton Avenue in the University of Cincinnati area.
After long and heated arguments between experts, it was decided that the Superintendent of Construction was extremely inexperienced, and that there was "recklessness in the handling of public money," on the part of the Treasury Department and the Immigration Bureau of Officials. The entire building, excluding the hospitals, had been built shoddily. After news of the problems with the building had been in the media, a lot of people involved with the construction of the building resigned their positions.
St. Louis, Missouri is where the Pruitt-Igoe urban housing complexes were built in the year of 1954. Originally the plan was that public housing would liberate people who were living in poor and dangerous slums. Little did they know that the Pruitt-Igoe would be just as bad, if not even worse. All considered, Pruitt-Igoe was a massive failure. Unfortunately, from the beginning segregation was included in the process of the building. As the Guardian states “Pruitt-Igoe became an economic and racial ghetto soon after it opened. The design, drawn up when Missouri law still mandated the segregation of public facilities, originally designated the Pruitt half of the complex (named after second world war fighter pilot Wendell O Pruitt) for black residents only, and the Igoe half (after former US Congressman William L Igoe) as white only.”
September 11, 2001, one of the most infamous and controversial dates in the history of the United States will be engraved in the minds of millions forever and is once more a resurfacing issue. On this horrendous date in time, Islamic terrorists hijacked a pair of commercial airplanes and flew them into the Twin Towers, murdering thousands and causing millions in damage. Nearly a decade later, an Islamic religious group named the Cordoba Initiative is stirring up more trouble and is planning to construct a mosque within only blocks away from ground zero itself. This is an extremely offensive and distasteful decision and should not be allowed for three main reasons: it is a direct attempt to aggravate the American public, compromise can be the solution and a way to elude future violent situations, and just because these individuals have the right, that doesn’t mean that they should feel compelled to go on with construction.
The separation of church and state has been a long debated topic in the history of America. Although founded upon Christian ideals, the framers of the Constitution explicitly outlined the government to function secularly, in what is commonly referred to as the “Establishment Clause”. When interpreting the Constitution in regards to religion, there are two primary philosophies. The first philosophy this paper will explore will be referred to as Positive Toleration. In general, the idea of positive toleration creates an environment that is encouraging of all religions. The second philosophy, which will be referred to as the “Wall of Separation,” encourages government freedom from religion. Although historically these two philosophies have jockey back and forth in public popularity, as America moves into the future, the Wall of Separation philosophy will take a strong-hold and will set the course for how the Establishment Clause will affect local government, schools, and private religious practice.
The structure of power in society is a vital part of understanding sociology. The two main theories that differentiate this structure are Mills’ theory of a power elite and Riesman’s contrasting theory of veto groups, or pluralism. Both theories are often found in varying degrees when considering important public decisions, such as the Hoover Redevelopment Plan or the University Village Plan. Generally, one of these theories is more applicable and relevant to certain public decisions and developments depending on the issue. While both of these theories played a part in the Hoover Redevelopment Plan and the University Village Plan, the power elite theory is ultimately more responsible for the institution of these developments.