Jehovah's Witnesses sue Bridgeport, CT P&Z

by Tatiana 7 Replies latest jw friends

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  Tatiana

  http://www.connpost.com/breakingnews/ci_7821224

  BRIDGEPORT — Rebuffed twice by the Planning and Zoning Commission, Jehovah's Witnesses have sued the city to build two connected meeting halls on a Huntington Turnpike lot.

  The suit was filed in early December by lawyer Timothy Hollister, of Shipman & Goodwin in Hartford, according to Jeff Gordon, a volunteer for a regional Jehovah's Witnesses building committee.

  The lawyer was unavailable for comment. Greg Conte, an associate city attorney who handles zoning issues, who was also unavailable.

  But Patricia Fardy, the P&Z chairwoman, stood by the board's reasons for denying the Kingdom Hall proposal at 257-269 Huntington Turnpike.

  "I'm familiar with the area and the sight line is in question" for the property and passing traffic, she said.

  The Jehovah's Witnesses' traffic studies underestimated the speed at which traffic travels through the area, she said, adding that the project was denied of concern for the "safety of parishioners and the public."

  "Exiting and entering that driveway would have been very, very hazardous," she said. (don't they know Jehovah will protect them from those speeding cars?)

  The commission unanimously rejected the application in September, citing traffic concerns as a primary reason. Two City Council members at the time pointed out that the site is a few blocks from so-called "Dead Man's Curve," an 0.8-mile-long stretch bordering on Beardsley Park named for numerous serious motor vehicle accidents that have occurred.

  But a revised application, presented at November's P&Z meeting, proposed the elimination of walls and trees to improve the sight lines for an unobstructed 1,000 feet.

  The vote then was 4-3 in favor of the plan, but it was a rejection by default because the proposal failed to win a two-thirds majority, or five of the seven P&Z members.

  Jehovah's Witness congregations that would have met in the proposed Kingdom Halls worship in Spanish, French and American Sign Language. They now meet in Monroe and Orange. There's also a Kingdom Hall on West Avenue near State Street.

  Gordon said despite the rejections, the Jehovah's Witnesses still plan to buy the second of two homes on the property. They own the first one.
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  minimus

  "a two thirds majority", huh? Just like the GB.
• 

  Gopher

  These JW's are so damn stubborn. Why can't they be good citizens and work with, not against, your city, and then trust in Jehovah (like they preach so often)?

  This is an earlier post with some comments from three months ago on this subject: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/11/143113/1.ashx
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  Pioneer Spit...oh, i mean Spirit

  Cutting out trees and shrubs for 1000 feet will just make more work for them in the new world that will be their's and their's alone.
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  Elsewhere

  Why are they so determined to build in a "kill zone"? The city is working to save their lives and they are fighting tooth and nail against the city.

  Just build somewhere safe... problem solved.
• 

  SirNose586

  Good way to endear themselves to the local community.

  It's that hubris....the feeling that THE WORLD doesn't know what's going on, but JAH'S PEOPLE do....
• 

  WTWizard

  I wonder if they are going to sue me to get me out in field circus, and sue me for every word and action that I do, just so I will siphon off all my activities away from myself and give it to those freeloading, pedophile protecting scammers that will then "reward" me with a sterile existence. It is getting so they sue everyone and everything just to get their own way. That is how they intend to break 7 million publishers--by suing everyone that is "Not Interested" into compliance and getting court orders that order them all to perform 250 hours of field circus every month and go to every boasting session, sticking to The Track on their input.

  Yet, if anyone tries to sue them for something they did wrongly (like the pedophile defense), they will silence them with gag orders. For sure, that organization is getting worse every year. I wonder when they are going to surpass the FDA, the RIAA, and the IRS as being the most feared government regulator on the planet. And I wouldn't be surprised if the Watchtower Society does with government what the Federal Reserve Bank did with our money back in the early 1910s. Tell me to be no part of the world. I suggest that they take their own advice and be no part of the world themselves before telling me not to vote.

  One thing I know: If I were ever elected president, the Watchtower Society would be up sxxx creek without a paddle. I would go after them for all the coerced pedophilia incidents and the gag orders and silencing of victims following them, the scams they have pulled, the enforced shunning of family members that no longer believe their doctrines or could not follow one of their stupid rules, and their game of ducking responsibility. They would be taxed heavily as value usurpers. I would slam them with every tax, lawsuit, and criminal charge I could find. And they would start losing lawsuits by the tens of thousands, and then start getting full exposure and embarrassment. The leaders would try to insist on its being the Devil doing it. Of course, I would reinstate the 20 year jail terms for the leaders that they gloat about having gotten out of.
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  Tatiana

  WTWIZARD FOR PRES!!!!!!!!