Thursday, October 15, 2015

Church Says Bike Lane Would Infringe Upon Rights of Religious Freedom

I've heard a lot of reasons that people didn't want bike lanes on roads in their area, including that they're not attractive, but now one Washington, D.C. church is saying they don't want a bike lane near their church because it could infringe up
“its constitutionally protected rights of religious freedom and equal protection of the laws.”

Huh? According to the Washington Post, a letter from an attorney for The United House of Prayer says the proposalo to add bike lanes is
ADVERTISINThe United House of Prayer is located in the 600 block of M Street NW and three of the four possible bike lane routes would run along at least parts of Sixth Street NW between Florida and Constitution avenues NW. (There is currently a bike lane going northbound on Fifth Street NW starting where the street becomes one way in that direction at the intersection of Fifth Street, New York Avenue and L Street NW.)
“unsupportable, unrealistic and particularly problematic for traffic and parking.”

The church claims that, with over 800 members and the Convention Center in the area, there are already congestion and parking issues and the parking removed to put in the lane would place an unconstitutionally undue burden on people who want to pray.

They claim other churches have moved from the suburbs due to parking restrictions.

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SRTC is the federally designated Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for Spokane County. Urbanized areas with populations exceeding 50,000 people are required to have an MPO. SRTC was formed to address the county's transportation planning needs. It provides coordination in planning between the public, cities, small towns, the county, the state, transit providers, and tribes.

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