We are losing our rights

Geddes says no to Sons of Sam motorcycle club : News : WSTM NBC3

There's a BIG difference between rights, such as freedom of association, and privileges, such as getting permission from a zoning board to do something in particular at or with a building. The latter is governed by whatever the zoning laws are in that area & not being granted permission to exercise a privilege is not the same thing as being denied a right.

Situations like these are why neither I nor most people I know will live in a community with a "neighborhood association". Sure, you have a right to live wherever you want, meet with whomever you want, etc., but if there's some governing body over the land, community, etc, you get into privileges which can & will be regulated.

You may remember a court case from several years ago, involving a guy who built a house in a community with a neighborhood association. He put up a flagpole with an American flag in his front yard & was forced to take it down - because the pole violated assn. rules. There was such a reaction to the guy not being able to fly the flag in his own front yard that the assn. finally changed the rules, but it was public pressure which forced the change, not because the assn. didn't have the right to make the rules on what you could & could not have in your yard.

Similar deal applies in this situation - it appears that the zoning board would have to be convinced that they should extend permission to the club to use the building for the stated purposes. In jurisdictions I'm familiar with, that would mean applying to the board for a permit or a "variance" from the existing rules & that would also mean a hearing open to the public. So basically, if the public says using the building for these purposes by that group is OK with us, they'd probably get the permit(s) they needed.

As much as I hate Gov't. regulation, sometimes it's good to have it & here several years ago it was. Long story short, developers & 3 of the 5 county commissioners wanted to change the zoning laws to do things we didn't want, including building a sewage treatment plant that would dump 500,000 gals/day of "treated" wastewater into our lake - going up to 5 million gals/day in a few years! Fought that battle for 2 years, but we won - they never got the 1st permit & the zoning laws weren't changed. Those 3 county commissioners got voted out too!

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

One thing.
There is a huge difference between buying into a homeowners association and signing a contract agreeing to abide by the rules and what this OP is about.
In effect you have a public entity using arbitrary zoning rules to deny a group of individuals their First Amendment Right to peaceably assemble.
What if this was a group of Odd Fellows instead of a charity motivated biker group.
Would the city council still deny the permit to use a privately owned building meet? Or would they welcome them with open arms?

It doesn't say "No State shall" (or county, municipality, etc.), does it? The Amendment ONLY limits what laws Congress may or may not pass with respect to the specific issues named.

So by extension your saying every state or municipality has a the ability to establsh a state or city recognized religion or to limit the freedom of the press or to keep people within their jurisdiction from expressing their ideas?
Don't act obtuse. You know very well that the First amendment places such restrictions on local as well as federal government.

No, that's not what I'm saying & the supreme court has held that most of the Bill of Rights is applicable to the States (thru the 14th Amendment) & going back to the article identifies the particular issue:

The Zoning Board in Geddes has denied a special permit for a motorcycle club.

* * * The bikers are using a building on State Fair Boulevard to store bikes and merchandise right now, but they want to be able to stage meetings there.

* * * The bikers' attorney. Benjamin Rabin, says the group is just looking for a place to hold meetings. "They have no intention of having a loud house or a bar. This is an area where they can get together and plan their charity runs, where they can sell or store merchandise to fundraise for veterans and people currently serving in the armed forces." (emphasis added)​

OK, evidently neither the building nor the land it's on belongs to the club & the other issue is "commerce". And apparently the club does have a permit(s) for what they're currently using the building for, it's the additional activities which the zoning board doesn't want to give a permit for.

Of course I have no idea what the zoning laws there say & the club's request is certainly reasonable to me. But I didn't write the zoning laws & it's up to the people of that community to decide what they are.

And when it comes to "commerce", the courts have held that there is a difference between "free speech" which is protected by the 1st Amendment, and "commercial speech" which is not. In other words, there are things you can have printed on a T-shirt which may be objectionable to other people, but you have the right to wear that T-shirt. However, the 1st Amendment does not guarantee a right to sell the T-Shirts as a commerical enterprise, for fundraising, etc. - that's a privilege which can be restricted / regulated.

I'm not saying the zoning board is right, or agreeing with all the court rulings, I'm just a pramatist & deal with the way things are, rather than how I might like them to be.

Being pragmatic shouldn't cause you to accept government stepping on your rights.
If you accept this then you will have to accept the rest.

It doesn't & let me ask you this - if a group like the those who try to demonstrate @ the funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq & Afghanistan wanted to rent a building across the street from the one the MC club uses, to meet, sell T-shirts that say soldiers are baby-killers & are going to hell, etc., would they have a right to do that? Or could the zoning board say no, you can't have a permit to use that building to hold your meetings & sell merchandise? See, that sword cuts both ways. Again, rights & privileges are not the same thing.

Absolutely, they should have that right and I would encourage them to do so.

I personally hate home owner associations and the power they have.
I will not live where they have one.
Discrimination that's what they are about.

Wished somebody could figure out how to break them.
They have the power to run yer life and make you move.

I've listened to the rich folks talk and they said associations are to keep the undiserables like me out.
I think there needs to be a open season on associations.:rant:
We git people comin up to the country and want to bring their rules and leash laws.
I have told them I don't wish to pay 250.00 a month and more for associations and I don't want a leash law.
What we have up here is the Texas Cattlemans Associations.
That I like.
Want the city slickers to move somewhere else.
I've dun made some more Move. The moved too close to me and started their city ways.

You don't want to know how I feel about that.