The American Civil Liberties Union has settled a case brought by two residents of the southern Iowa town of Leon over parking restrictions. A-C-L-U president, Ben Stone, says Donald Jones and David Darling sued the city when it banned parking in front of their home under a "church parking only" ordinance.
Stone says the city of Leon has agreed to alter the parking situation to make it a "no parking zone" for all cars. Stone says it’s not the ideal situation, but better than the "religious discrimination" in the "church only" parking zone.
Stone says they just wanted everyone to be treated the same. He says they were seeking to let the city know they couldn’t treat the men differently just because they didn’t go to the church across the street. Stone says this is an unusual case.
"It’s the only time we’ve ever seen this type of situation and… we hope it doesn’t become widespread, because frankly if churches could just have cities make the streets their parking area, they wouldn’t have to buy any parking lots," Stone says. Stone says Leon has two thousand residents and 16 churches, and his client’s home was the only residence that was entirely affected by the parking ban.