It’s Not Always Easy to “Love Thy Neighbor”

It’s really sad to witness something “un-neighborly” happening close to home. Actually, it’s happening within a few miles of my house.

“Stop the Sunset Hills Land Grab” and “We're Ready to Go” are two neighborhood groups at odds with each other. What are they fighting about? They’re fighting over the right to sell their homes to a land developer who wants to build a shopping mall.

What’s so bad about yet another shopping mall? Well, nothing really except for the fact that an older, established shopping mall already exists within a few miles of the proposed new shopping mall the developer wants to build on the land currently occupied by an older neighborhood of moderately priced homes. This new shopping mall would cater to very upscale clients according to the developer. It would generate tax revenue for the city of Sunset Hills.

Sounds good, right?

It would be but for the fact that the Sunset Hills city council signed a deal with the land developer giving them tax incentives where they do not have to pay taxes for a set period of time in order to entice them to build in their city.

Uh-oh.

And if this new shopping mall is built so close to the older shopping mall, it will essentially put many of its stores out of business and cause area residents to lose their jobs.

Double uh-oh.

So many people in Sunset Hills aren’t happy about this situation. They want their voices to be heard. They want to vote on the issue of whether or not to allow a shopping mall to be built that won’t pay taxes into their city for many years. They don’t like the idea that the city will use its power of “eminent domain” to clear out the remaining residents.

Not nice at all.

Worse yet, the Sunset Hills city council pushed the land deal through without bringing it to a vote of the citizenry. In turn, those citizens who felt their voices were not being heard became angry. They brought about a lawsuit in county court to force the city to put the whole shopping mall/land acquisition deal question before the voters. The lawsuit is delaying anything from being built at the shopping mall site.

Even more un-neighborly-ness!

What’s even sadder is that many of the residents of the neighborhood that would be completely razed want to move. They want to take their money from the land developer and run… Some want to retire to places far away or simply move to another house.

These families have every right to sell their houses. But some of their neighbors do not want to leave their homes. They’ve lived in the quiet little neighborhood for a very long time. Over the years, the city of Sunset Hills has boomed and grown all around them. If these people are forced to move from their houses, they know will not find another house in Sunset Hills they can afford. They simply aren’t building homes in the Sunset Hills area these days for less than $500,000.

In a sense, the city council by threatening eminent domain proceedings has told these residents that they rather have an upscale shopping center that brings in rich consumers to their city than allow modest income, hard-working families to continue living in their modest, ranch houses in an established neighborhood.

How fair is that?

And it gets worse… The land developer at the last moment says his lender has backed out of the deal, and he doesn’t have the money to start purchasing the houses and clearing the land for the new shopping mall. He asked the city of Sunset Hills for an advance on the tax incentive money. The city gave it to him. Then the developer tells those who want to sell their houses that he can’t buy them at the price he quoted them earlier before since he doesn’t have a lender lined up.

Of course, these people have already made plans to purchase other homes and move out. Their moving plans depend on the money they were promised by the land developer, and they don’t want to take less. They’re not happy at all. They blame their neighbors (who haven’t sold their homes yet to the land developer) for their financial woes.

When Jesus told us to “Love your neighbor as yourself” he meant we are to treat each other in a kind and considerate manner—the way we would wish to be treated.

Has anyone in the Sunset Hills Shopping Mall fiasco acted neighborly? From the news reports filled with irate voices of the upset homeowners and the ringing “no comments” of the city officials, it doesn’t appear so.

What can be done about it? A guarantee that all parties involved will be able to speak on the issue without being forced into a corner by either the city government or the land developer would go a long way to ease tensions.

But, even then, only prayer and forgiveness will truly heal the wounds these neighbors have inflicted upon each other.

"Love thy neighbor," Jesus said. What would Jesus do if he found himself in this situation?