I had a few errands to run during lunch today and ended up on Bardstown Road in the Highlands. I pulled through a drive through to get a quick bite and decided to drive back in the neighborhoods around Cave Hill Cemetery. I found a nice quiet street and enjoyed the different architecture of the various houses and apartments unique to the Highlands. The grass is green, flowers and trees are in bloom and everything looks wonderful. As I sat in my car devouring my sandwich and listening to "State of Affairs" on NPR, I noticed several of the yards had signs in them that read: "Highland Presbyterian: Please Move Your Chiller."
I started wondering,"what the heck does that mean?" As I pulled away from the curb and drove down the block a few houses, I saw a different sign that read: www.thechurchandthechiller.com.
You can read for yourself the issue at hand, but it is hard to believe the church has so far gotten away with it. What happened to the days of shutting all the windows in the church in the summer and opening them all in the winter. That's how I remember it anyway (I'm looking at YOU Sister Margaret!)
8 comments:
The Church and the Chiller has been an issue for a good while now. I've been following it in the paper.
It hasn't made the "J-Town Chronicle" yet. I wonder why?
It's my understanding that some of the information on the Church and the Chiller website is incorrect. Even the website itself says that the courts have so far sided with the church. Before you side completely with these anti-chiller people, you might want to get all the facts.
Which information of that website do you understand to be incorrect?
If you could be specific about this rumor, perhaps it would be valuable, but as such, it would
appear that you're just pissing in someone's punchbowl.
The church screwed up and blames everyone but themselves. Two years and counting. Still no permit.
Church good, neighbors bad, crush neighbors, win. Yea!
I live in the neighborhood and the following things are true as of 7/17/9:
- The church did not apply for a Certificate of Appropriateness even though it's in the Cherokee Triangle historic district.
- The church does not have a permit for the chiller.
- I have a guilt-by-association reaction to anyone involved in the church. It's not fair, but I pre-judge them because their donations support this behavior.
- I have dropped all support for Highland Christian Ministries due to the HPC's actions.
The following are my opinions:
- The irony of this being a church is huge. Last I checked the letter of Christianity was all about caring for your neighbors and those around you. The actions of the church are pretty far from this.
- It's actually really easy to be a good neighbor, and step one is you make sure you talk to your neighbors about actions you are taking at property boundaries before you do them. Apparently this basic courtesy does not occur to groups of Presbyterians.
- If the Catholic faith is right about purgatory, someone's spending some extra time in the penalty box later on. :)
- The neighbors are far too kind. If I were directly affected, I'd be out there with websites and collateral saying: "HPC, can't spell HyPoCrite without it."
I heard that the pastor of the church has never met with or talked to the neighbors. If this is true, it seems a quite remarkable and sad fact. It seems we live in a place where fewer and fewer people take responsibility for their actions -- or even talk to each other directly.
Highland Presbyterian Church has run roughshod over its neighbors for decades. They've torn down several beautiful houses to expand their campus and completely changed the character of that end of Everett Avenue. Despite what they say, they really give nothing back to the neighborhood, they just take. They are rich and powerful and they use their power to get whatever they want. Their membership includes dozens of prominent lawyers, so they don't have to worry about legal costs. The Metro Council representative for the area is a member of the church. So is the person who writes many of the articles on the Chiller for the Courier Journal.
It is true that the minister of HPC has never met with the neighbors. She doesn't need to, she isn't in charge. A lawyer and a doctor are, and they call all the shots. They have forbidden her or anyone else in the congregation to speak to anyone about the issue. The congregation's only information comes through them.
This church has ceased to be a House of God and has become something far different. What that is, I'm not sure, but it sure doesn't feel good. It acts more like a corporation than a church. Someone needs to ask each and every member of this church what they would do if someone put such a monstrosity in their backyard. I think I already know the answer. But it's not their backyard, or their neighborhood. They spend an hour a week at the church and then go back to their homes in the suburbs. The rest of us are here every day and have to live with the nightmare they have created.
I do know that the neighbors who are involved in the suit are lovely people and have turned to the courts in desperation, only as a last resort. The church was totally unwilling to work with them or listen to anyone. They did it, without a valid permit or any of the required approvals, and that was that. Basically their attitude toward the neighborhood has been "let's see you try to stop us!"
If this is a Christian church, then I need to find another religion. The Jesus that I grew up with would never say something like that or bless a church that acts like Highland Presbyterian has. Shame on them for calling themselves Christians! They don't know the meaning of the word.
I live in the neighborhood near HPC’s air-conditioner’s Chiller but I am not part of the lawsuit. If you read about this in the Courier it was probably only in the Neighborhoods section because they will NOT report on it in the main paper. They also will NOT print letters to the editor about it.
We believe that everything on our web site is correct. If you find anything that you know is not, please let us know.
The first summer we tried to work things out with Highland Pres. from June through October with no cooperation. We wrote letters, made phone calls, and set up appointments with their session that were all cancelled. No one would come to anyone’s home to talk about it. The one time a few people did meet with us at the church, they had a lawyer and our side did not and they used that against us later.
We wanted them to put the chiller on the roof where the former unit was. The noise level is 90 decibels or about that of a loud lawnmower going all day. It ruins the lives of 6 families. Yet the judge has set up a trial for next winter - when it will not be running- to decide if it is too loud. The Chiller is right next to the HPC pre-school and the noise violates Federal standards set but no one seems to care.
HPC says it would cost them too much to move the chiller. This from a church that bought Parrs Rest, remodeled it, and just added geothermal heating/cooling.
The law suit so far has cost the neighbors more than $80,000 because it has dragged out so long. HPC lawyers are determined to bankrupt them so they have to drop their suit. Our Judge, Fred Cowan, has dragged this case on for 2 years now. I think, because he plays golf with many of the lawyers at HPC, he does not want to offend them so he will not rule against them.
This church is very rich and powerful. It placed this Chiller without a permit, a variance or permission from the Historic Preservation Board. It just thinks it can do what it wants to because it always has. If it is not stopped this time, there will be no end to what it will do in our neighborhood. We who know this Church’s history know this to be true.
We also cannot believe that the Presbyterian Headquarters is allowing this to go on! This is about as unchristian as you can get. It certainly is not “love your neighbor”.
Where do they stand on this? No one knows because they say absolutely nothing.
We think maybe it is time that HPC should move to the suburbs where they seem to belong. Those of us in this neighborhood are close to each other and care about preserving the Historic nature of our area. We do not drive in here once a week for an hour and then say, “oh, to heck with them, they are just trouble makers”.
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