Save Saint Stans

Well, here we go again with "da church." A Save Saint Stans blog is now up and running to help the folks in Fells Point address an assault on their cultural heritage by the Catholic Church. Saint Stans completes the unholy trinity of contentious preservation battles that the Archdiocese of Baltimore has provoked within the past three years (Rochambeau, the Saint Paul block, now this one). Three years, three battles, eh, but who's counting...

If you would like to post to savesaintstans, email Brad.

Religion v. Preservation

Those of you who, like me, read law journals for fun instead of, say, oh, I dunno, knitting or woodcraft or getting paid to read them, will enjoy Elizabeth Williamson's 1997 article, "City of Boerne v. Flores and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act," published in the Florida State University Journal of Land Use & Environmental Law. I'm sure ten million lawsuits have taken place since 1997, but the article gives good background information on the rise and fall of the Act.