Housing solution

But here’s a solution: We can make room for additional housing by using the property that churches occupy (eminent domain). I counted 41 churches recently. That seemed to be a high number for a population of only 62,000 souls. Taking over church (synagogue, mosque, etc.) property and using it for more state-mandated housing would be an ideal way to meet our requirement (An Internet search reveals that less than 20 percent of our population attend religious services, so no big deal).

Further, by adopting time-share arrangements, eliminating 36 religious houses would not cause any significant disruptions of the activities of those amongst us who wish to continue their other-world practices. This is because in the remaining houses of worship, services could be stacked. That is, first service of the day could be reserved for Baptists, followed by Methodists, Catholics, etc. Every six months, the congregations could move up a notch, and last of the day during the first half year would become first during the following period. The beauty of this arrangement would be that soon, the various groups will realize that we’re all the same, and we’ll naturally choose to become friends, and even intermarry. Talk about a happy, diversified Bay Area. And Palo Alto can be the start of something big. Surely this same plan will be used throughout the Bay Area.

Ruben Contreras

Palo Alto