Don’t demolish church, find other parking

Once again, Cedar Rapids apparently will demolish nationally significant architecture to make room for a flawed parking “need.” Historically, this city has allowed demolition of unique community assets to accommodate parking, most notably razing the remarkable train depot to erect a hideous parking ramp.

Today, it's back to the future as the historic and beautiful First Christian Church is slated for demolition to make way for 40-some parking spaces for Physicians' Clinic of Iowa.

The sprawling PCI complex is a major disruption of the urban core: it unnecessarily causes the closing of a portion of Second Avenue; proposes widening 10th Street; threatens the historic neighborhood and churches around it; destroys any opportunity for a walkable environment; and refuses to modify its plans to address any of the problems.

Although much of the damage has been done, St. Luke's, PCI, and the City Council can demonstrate community integrity by terminating the plan for immediate demolition of First Christian Church. There are plenty of examples of barely used parking lots throughout the city, including the underused St. Luke's ramp between First Avenue and A Street that is about the same distance from PCI as the proposed lot where First Christian stands.

Once PCI opens, the parking needs can be authentically assessed, and maybe, just maybe, the anticipated parking “challenge” will be nonexistent or a more responsible alternative could emerge.

Shame on all of us if we allow another significant community asset to be demolished to create a handful of parking spaces.

James Kern

Cedar Rapids