Downtown plan commendable on many levels

Let me see if I understand this. The church that so many people lambasted for closing off a section of Main Street a few years ago to create a peaceful plaza is now proposing a downtown development that will create three new streets?

I don't mean to sound sarcastic. Nor am I making a point simply because that church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, owns this newspaper, nor because I am one of its members (although that surely plays into my feelings). I'm just genuinely, and continually, impressed by a private entity that keeps giving to its headquarters city despite the grief it often receives from some of its residents.

I know, the Main Street Plaza deal wasn't just about closing a street. It was about allowing a public right-of-way near the church's headquarters and signature temple so that people could scream angry criticisms toward its members and leaders and actually be heard.

That just seems all the more ironic, especially given the scope of the downtown remodeling project the church unveiled last week (I keep hearing the figure of $1 billion as the low end of its estimated cost).

• In Tulsa over the weekend, several local church leaders came together to form a group they hope will help them unite against city redevelopment projects. The Tulsa World reported this was spurred by the city of Sand Springs, which had tried to force the Centennial Baptist Church out to make way for a multimillion-dollar taxpayer-funded project to replace "blight" with new developments. The city has backed off some, but church leaders insist the city still is trying to make it move.

• In St. Louis, the city backs a developer that wants it to condemn private property located just south of the Cardinals' new baseball stadium. The land is being used as a salvage yard and has belonged to the same family for at least 50 years. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch says the city would like to kick the landowners out to make way for the Ice House District, "a hip entertainment spot possibly featuring a martini bar, a plush banquet hall and a boutique hotel."

• In Riviera Beach, Fla., four property owners recently filed suit against the city to keep it from condemning their homes to make way for a $2.4 billion waterfront development. The city's mayor told the St. Petersburg Times the move is needed to help "a city that is strife with unemployment, strife with crime, strife with all the evils and misfortunes of urban communities across this country."