Cody WY residents not happy about McTemple ruining views

[Philo Sofee]

Their proposed temple looks NOTHING like the gorgeous and old west architecture all over Cody Wyoming. Stupid if you ask me.

[drumdude]

Daniel has only now just pointed out that the church had to obtain a variance to get the height of the spire approved.

Maybe the church should have simply complied with the building requirements of the area. Instead of just assuming residents were fine with them getting a privileged exemption to ignore the rules everyone else has to comply with.

[Marcus]

...At a distance, and without any polling data, it’s impossible to know whether those who oppose the construction of the temple in Cody — or (the three positions are distinct, and all three have been expressed) those who oppose the construction of the particular temple design announced for Cody, or those who oppose the building of the temple in the particular location within Cody for which it has been announced — represent a majority of the residents of the town or merely a small but vocal minority....

This is ridiculous. When zoning variance hearings are held, municipalities specifically want to hear from neighbors. In my municipality, neighbors within 200 ft of the location of the variance request are specifically invited to the hearings.

The decision being made favors the zoning code first, not the group asking for a variance. So Peterson's implication here that "merely a small but vocal minority" shouldn't have a significant voice is inappropriate, at best.

But, logical thinking is not Peterson's forté.

[Marcus]

It’s also impossible to know to what extent the opposition is driven by genuine concerns about location, height, and lighting and to what extent the opposition is driven by implicit religious animus. (Not all such animus has remained implicit. Some has been overt and unashamed, though open religious hostility cannot constitutionally be admitted as legitimate grounds for public policy or, in this case, for a “planning and zoning” decision.) An interesting and perhaps representative sampling of the reasons given for opposition to the Cody Wyoming Temple can be viewed on the Facebook page of the organization coordinating that opposition, which calls itself Preserve Our Cody Neighborhoods. It’s from that site that I draw my impressions of the views of those opposing the temple.

I’ve suggested more than once that concern over the temple’s lighting is very likely misplaced, since it’s a virtual certainty that, if the neighbors want it, the temple’s lights will be substantially dimmed after some appointed hour in the evening. This is, as I and many others know from direct personal observation, the practice at numerous temples both in Utah and beyond.

And this from Peterson is just shameful pandering to his group that claims privilege.

[Marcus]

I don’t mean to be insulting, and I admit that I haven’t been through Cody for several years now, but I’ve never had the impression that the town is widely known for the distinguished quality or the artistic beauty of its architecture. Neither Eero Saarinen nor Frank Gehry nor I. M. Pei nor Frank Lloyd Wright seems ever to have visited Cody. Pierre Charles L’Enfant didn’t lay out its streets.

Oh dear god. Peterson: "your town has no class anyway, so how dare you object to us coming in and overriding your master plan goals."

Well, if nothing else, Peterson is cementing the negative reputation of Mormons as classless, rude, and thoughtless in nonmormon-dominant communities.

[drumdude]

I don’t mean to be insulting, and I admit that I haven’t been through Cody for several years now, but I’ve never had the impression that the town is widely known for the distinguished quality or the artistic beauty of its architecture. Neither Eero Saarinen nor Frank Gehry nor I. M. Pei nor Frank Lloyd Wright seems ever to have visited Cody. Pierre Charles L’Enfant didn’t lay out its streets.

Oh dear god. Peterson: "your town has no class anyway, so how dare you object to us coming in and overriding your master plan goals."

Well, if nothing else, Peterson is cementing the negative reputation of Mormons as classless, rude, and thoughtless in nonmormon-dominant communities.

It dovetails in nicely with FairMormon's recent discovery that the majority of Mormon portrayals in media are negative. Fair would like you to believe the media itself is driving hostility towards the LDS church. They just woke up one day and decided on a whim to pick on Mormons.

But it's actually much more likely a natural and expected response to decades of bad behavior from LDS leaders.

[malkie]

Oh dear god. Peterson: "your town has no class anyway, so how dare you object to us coming in and overriding your master plan goals."

Well, if nothing else, Peterson is cementing the negative reputation of Mormons as classless, rude, and thoughtless in nonmormon-dominant communities.

It dovetails in nicely with FairMormon's recent discovery that the majority of Mormon portrayals in media are negative. Fair would like you to believe the media itself is driving hostility towards the LDS church. They just woke up one day and decided on a whim to pick on Mormons.

But it's actually much more likely a natural and expected response to decades of bad behavior from LDS leaders.

As a recent poll showed, for religions in general, net antipathy towards any religious group is reduced when you get to know them. Except for Mormons: to know them is not to like them any better, on balance

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/20 ... catholics/

[drumdude]

It dovetails in nicely with FairMormon's recent discovery that the majority of Mormon portrayals in media are negative. Fair would like you to believe the media itself is driving hostility towards the LDS church. They just woke up one day and decided on a whim to pick on Mormons.

But it's actually much more likely a natural and expected response to decades of bad behavior from LDS leaders.

As a recent poll showed, for religions in general, net antipathy towards any religious group is reduced when you get to know them. Except for Mormons: to know them is not to like them any better, on balance

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/20 ... catholics/

I bet this wouldn't be the case for all Mormon branches, like the Community of Christ, which is far less fundamentalist and toxic.

[malkie]

As a recent poll showed, for religions in general, net antipathy towards any religious group is reduced when you get to know them. Except for Mormons: to know them is not to like them any better, on balance

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/20 ... catholics/

I bet this wouldn't be the case for all Mormon branches, like the Community of Christ, which is far less fundamentalist and toxic.

I would imagine so. The CoC members I know are some of the most pleasant people I've ever met - and some of the smartest. The organization is a lot more open and accepting than the Salt Lake arm of the restoration.

And their leaders are very approachable as ordinary people - I've met and chatted with several CoC apostles and seventies - no airs & graces, no demand for or expectation of unearned respect, no body guards, etc. Of course, I may just have been fortunate and met only the "good" ones, but I really don't think so.

[Gadianton]

Oh dear god. Peterson: "your town has no class anyway, so how dare you object to us coming in and overriding your master plan goals."

Isn't this the same argument from the other thread? This is the best building a poor person will ever get to walk through?