By The TimesLedger
The members of Community Board 7 voted overwhelmingly last week to deny the Korean Presbyterian Church the right to park cars on its own property. The board said the Flushing church is guilty of years of reckless expansion.
The pastor of the church, which has grown from 300 to 4,000 members, admitted that his congregation has not done a good job of getting along with its neighbors.
“It is time for Community Board 7 to send a message,” said Pat Dolan, executive vice president of the Queens Civic Congress. “And a good place to start is with this applicant.”
Why is this a good place for CB 7 to throw its weight around? Is it because parking 18 cars on the church lot will further inconvenience the neighbors? No, if the cars can’t park on the lot, they will park on the street, causing more problems for the locals.
Perhaps this is a good place to start because the church serves an immigrant community that is virtually unrepresented on the community board? This may be good government, but it sure smells like immigrant bashing.
Flushing is home to a rapidly growing number of churches, temples and other houses of worship serving New York’s immigrant community. This is the proud heritage of the town that was the birthplace of religious tolerance. But now it seems the welcome mat once rolled out for the Quakers has been removed and tolerance is in short supply.
