By Paulette Greenberg

Re “Dear Community: Time to Stand up for Grace Lutheran”

One’s activity within a community does not equal goodness.

Being “active” in one’s community is not equal to goodness.  If so, as letter-writer Michael Gotz contends, then why are so many “active” people either in prison or ex-convicts, e.g., clergy, members of religious institutions, teachers, politicians. 

Goodness is what a person does in his life to make the world more whole. 

Goodness is defending the rights of others when the government oversteps its bounds.

Here, Farragut Drive residents have stepped forward to defend those rights. Certain members of the City Council act as if they are above the law. They believe each must decide for him/herself whether he/she has a conflict of interest. Furthermore, they believe that generally discussing matters not on a meeting agenda — a violation of the Brown Act — is proper if they do not get “specific.” That resembles the concept of being only a little bit pregnant. They want to act arbitrarily, capriciously when making decisions affecting citizens.  Of course, the courts have the final decision on legal rights. 

Legal rights are not “stupid and selfish.”  Legal rights are one of the most cherished values that Americans have. Spending one’s life enforcing these rights is a worthy pursuit. 

Mr. Gotz should ask people who have lived under oppressive regimes whether having legal rights is “stupid and selfish.”

Farragut Drive residents are generous n sharing our street,   

Mr. Gotz, who lives on a “private street,” accuses us of being selfish and not sharing our block on Farragut Drive.  First of all, our restricted parking is only Monday through Friday. 

Thousands of cars pass by my house every weekday.  On Sundays, the street is jammed with cars of persons going to the Grace Church.  For 48 years, Grace Church has not had a single parking spot.

It rents its facilities to three other churches on Sunday, and has 49 non-church activities throughout the week.

I invite all your readers to come by Farragut on Mondays through Fridays, around 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., or 2 p.m. to 3 p.m., or Sundays, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. to witness how we share our street.

However, be careful. Some people have been injured in the traffic.

Any reasonable person could figure out who is encroaching upon whom.  We have put up with this nuisance for decades.

Now we are being accused of being selfish by a non-neighbor who has no knowledge of the situation.  It makes one wonder on whose behalf he is getting involved in something of which he knows nothing.

Mr. Gotz accuses Farragut Drive residents of waging war on the church. 

Farragut residents are not waging a war against Grace Church.  In fact, we have nothing against the general membership and others who attend its services and other activities.

We acknowledge that Grace Church tries to do good in the community, but it is also a business enterprise. Grace Church advertises that one can rent its Sanctuary for $500/day, its Parish Hall for $400/day, or a meeting room, which has a capacity of 40, for as little as $25/hour. 

To the best of our knowledge, there is only one Grace Church member, Ken Smith, who is obsessed with using our block as the Grace Church’s private parking lot. He already has Saturday and Sunday, but apparently that is not enough for him or his buddy, Andrew Weissman. 

Our dispute with Ken Smith arises from the fact that the Grace Church has never attempted to alleviate its parking needs by finding off-street parking.  Obviously, Ken Smith does not feel the least bit responsible for inundating our neighborhood with cars.

Culver City could easily resolve this standoff.  Culver City has a policy of requiring active churches to arrange for off-street parking.  It just needs to enforce that policy. There are several good off-street possibilities. Why does Culver City treat the Grace Church differently than all other churches in Culver City? Could it be that Ken Smith has a friend in high place?
We tried to resolve our differences in a peaceful manner.  However, if that does not work, we will be forced to bring this matter before the courts. It’s our duty as good citizens.

Ms. Greenberg may be contacted at plgreen@att.net