The clinic is between the supermarket and the Blockbuster? But that's where the Starbucks is supposed to go! Don't they know anything?

Forget about giving people what they need... they want frappuccinos, damn it.

I posted something about that on my blog at 5:10 p.m. Thursday. I also said something anti-choicers on Feministe, where Jill uses the same definition as me in describing these crazies -- terrorists. Those who oppose abortion are terrorists and they have been using terrorist tactics that dates back to 1982.

Word! Of course if they did violate the very strictly enforced land use and permit regulations it will have been to protect the construction workers from unnecessary and super-misguided harassment from the men and women of the forced pregnancy brigade. But I mean, gee golly gosh, they didn't tell us what company was moving in here right away - that ain't right! Maybe I could file a similar lawsuit against all the freakin Walmarts that popped up out of nowhere in all my state's small towns when we had no clue what was going on. Gaaah!

It may be a bit more complex.

I wouldn't especially want to live next to a clinic, because it's like a magnet for the fucking nutsos of the world, and all things being equal I'd rather not have them all in my neighborhood. Abortions don't bother me. But six foot pictures of bloody feti sort of suck to see every morning, and I'd rather not be collateral damage.

[shrug] I'm prochoice enough that I'd vote for it anyway. But in all fairness, wishing it was elsewhere is quite possibly the result of the prolife set and not about what's happening in the clinic.

I found this amusing: At today's hearing the city attorney also said, "The city of Aurora's image is important."

Isn't Aurora famous for being the home of Wayne's World? Party time. Excellent.

(Or am I just old?)

I must admit that when this all came up my first thought was "Isn't that where Wayne's World was?"

Jesus! I guess I wasn't paying much attention to this clinic opening business because I just figured, yeah they have to go through a lot of hassles but eventually they'll manage to open. Naive of me.

My wife grew up in Aurora, and she pointed out to me just this morning that the anti-choicers have a certain advantage in this debate. The city of Aurora is not your typical suburb-- it's the second largest city in Illinois, and has a pretty diverse population-- ethnically, economically, in terms of religion, etc. This Planned Parenthood is being built in the area of town where the rich people live-- so you not only get the anti-abortion folks protesting, you also get the people who don't want to see poor people who need affordable health care. The area desperately needs a place where economically-disadvantaged women can see a doctor, so-- these people reason-- the presence of a Planned Parenthood would likely bring a lot of "undesirables" into their neighborhood.

Having said all that, when Ann says, "I really wonder if there would be any local opposition to this clinic if it was opening between a liquor store and a Popeye's on a strip in the bad part of town," my answer-- as someone who visits the town every so often-- is an emphatic yes. As diverse as the city is in some respects, the political power is still very much in the hands of conservatives. The fact that this building is in the rich area of town may make the anti-choicers' job easier, but this would be an issue anywhere in the city, I think.

Y'all should see the local press coverage of this, too.

The segment I saw gave all the screentime to the protesters. Not even a canned lawyer-response from Planned Parenthood was shown.

I am not sure that it wouldn't get rpotested, even in a seedy section of town- the prolifers are going to be harassing people no matter what. But I have been to Aurora, and there are poor, "bad" neighborhoods pushed right up next to the quarter-mil homes- the difference between the neighborhoods in this own is amazing. The rich whiners apparently don't care about poor people being nearby, as long as they still get their nice homes. So it is possible that they wouldn't have protested as much, because they never really seem to notice the poor people, or so it seems. Admittedly, I don't live there, I just visit on occasion.

Well....rich for Aurora maybe, but it isn't really a rich part of town. It's a firmly middle-middle class part of town. I mean, come on, how many rich people do you know that live within shouting distance of a strip mall?

Anyway, I wanted to write in because although the judge did rule against PP in this instance, he didn't actually rule that PP cannot open, ever. What he ruled is that PP's motion for an injunction against the city of Aurora to allow PP to operate despite Aurora's "investigation" of PP's permitting process.

And to brozzle above, PP did not violate any of the land use or zoning regulations. They followed them to the letter. The area is zoned for medical clinics, and when the PP development arm sought permits, it sought them for permission to build a medical clinic. PP was right on the money when they said this wouldn't be an issue if they had elected to open up a foot clinic, or probably even if they had opened up a PP clinic without abortion services.

Argh...typing too fast. What that second paragraph should have said was that Judge Norgle ruled against PP's motion for an injunction. Bleah, not enough coffee yet.

I am definitely pro-choice, but I can still see why residents would fight this. Who wants crazy protestors down the street from where you live. This can’t be good for real-estate values or businesses in the area (the supermarket and Blockbuster owners must be fighting tooth and nail).

I fully agree that there is a class issue here. I think I've said it before, but this is the area that came up with This headline

I've worked in the homeless shelter in the "poor" areas of Aurora, and this doesn't suprise me. This is a conservative-entrenched area with a lot of diversity, but doesn't think of itself that way.

I lived in the area for years -- and I know that if I were still living there, I'd be helping them out more than I can do 90 miles away. It would have been my clinc.

Note to self, don't move to aurora.

I hate people who have nothing better to do than bitch every time something mildly inconvenient moves within 3 miles of their McMansion. (My parent's neighborhood is currently suing one of the residents for installing a fountain in the front yard that they think doesn't fit with the rest of the neighborhood. A few years ago the sued a nearby cemetary to keep them from building a mausoleum that no one can see because it is back in the wooded part and down hill from everything.)

IT just drives me CRAZY, don't you have anything more important to worry about than something that has little to no affect on your life beyond the fact that you might occasionally catch a glimpse of it as you speed by in your giant SUV?

At Tuesday's open-house, I talked to a few people who live in the neighborhood right next to Planned Parenthood. They said that most of their neighbors either support Planned Parenthood or are indifferent to it, but are tired of the protests.

Shinobi - For most homeowners, their house is the biggest investment they will ever make. I would be surprised if they didn’t try to protect that investment.

I live in a nice neighborhood and I would not mind a bit if a Planned Parenthood set up shop in one of the local mini-malls. Driving past crazy protestors every morning would remind me not to take my rights for granted.

I grew up in Aurora, though I moved away from there 5 years ago for college. Specifically, I grew up in this neighborhood.

Despite someone's assertion, the are putting the PP in the richest part of the town. The Stonebridge community had (5 years ago) primarily 1/2 million dollar homes and up. I know for a fact that several McDonald's executives (specifically vice presidents) live in that neighborhood, and it used to host LPGA tournaments. Aurora/Naperville, as this area can be more accurately described (very different from the rest of Aurora, self-identifies as being more in Naperville) is a conservative hotbed. Dubya campaigned there in the 2000 Labor Day Parade, and this is the district of Jim Oberweis. I was amazed when I heard PP was putting a clinic here, and thrilled. I'm so hoping they get to open it.

The newer PP buildings fit into the landscape of a nicer neighborhood. I think they use a similar design for all of their blast proof buildings. If the protesters and an issue maybe they should enact some local laws to prevent them from LOITERING outside.

The homes in the area may have been pretty high-end 5-10 years ago, but with the recent explosion of Oswego and rehauling of downtown Aurora, they're kind of par for the course and on the older side of the expensive subdivisions. I haven't lived in Aurora for about a year (though I do return frequently), and I doubt a whole lot has changed since then, though it's probably true that perceptions of the area have shifted.

The people there have more grounds to complain about the mall and highschool traffic than they do a new medical facility, abortions or no.

Well, they will hopefully win. I think they've taken the right tactic.

For those who don't know, the standard for a preliminary injunction is very high; the fact that PP lost this battle is not really much of an indication about whether they'll win in the end. In layperson's terms, this only means that PP doesn't have a slam-dunk case (but IMO it sound like they have a winning case in the end.)

And I have to say, I rarely get to see "nice neighborhood" and "blast proof building" used in the same sentence! ;)

And that isn't a slam on the area or anyone who lives there, I just don't think that area is anything like the million dollar plus homes ten minutes away.

sunflwrmoonbeam - I don't think it's in Stonebridge. (I'm terrible with neighborhood names, but it's not near the golf course.) It's over by Waubonsie.

I just google mapped it, and it's smack dab between Waubonsie and Stonebridge, near Oakhurst. If you take Eola 2 streets up you'll run into Stonebridge (and 2 streets in the other direction, Waubonsie).

Thank you Ann (and again Chiasatan) for breaking the case down in easy to understand terms. Of course I have been following this case closely, due to my involvement with Planned Parenthood Chicago Area, but I really have a difficult time understanding the legal issues here because it seems so bloody convoluted (as it's probably meant to be to detract from the fact that PP did NOTHING illegal here).

Some posters here have expressed concern that they wouldn't want a PP clinic right by their house. I wish you lot could see where this clinic is as it's really well situated and thoughtfully planned out. I also wish I had brought my camera when I was out there last weekend! It's at the tail end of a huge strip mall (actually, more of a strip mall subdivision). The streets near it are HUGE. They are almost like boulevards and the main one running to one side is more like a highway. So there is only one "side" of PP that has housing facing it (3 other sides are towards the strip mall or semi-highway street), and those houses are so far away, I doubt they can hear the chanting/shouting of protestors.

PP selected the location because it has a LOT of land around it so it's not jutting up against anyone. It has quite a bit of green space around the entire clinic, and protestors are only able to stand on one side (the slim sidewalk side facing the houses). One cannot just jump off a bus (are there buses in this area of Aurora?!) and walk to PP. You really must drive in. It's very spacious all around - outside and in.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this exactly, except to say that it's obvious PP put great effort into this to protect their patients as best possible, offer them a safe and warm environment, and be in a location where they're not crammed into a heavily populated area, jutting up against numerous McMansions, stores, etc, and stepping on people's toes. Though I realize they are never going to please the anti-abortion folks.

I like the idea of these clinics being near stores. At the PP I went to in PA, it is full of residential areas where protesters are more than happy to gather and harass women on their way in to getting an abortion.

A friend of mine had an abortion at a strip mall in AZ, and there were no protesters, because there was a restaurant and a supermarket adjacent, thus, there was simply no room where the crazies could lawfully stand in order to protest.

String_Bean_Jen - You can take a bus there, or at least very close. Pace has a route that runs within a block of it (the route that serves the mall). Which is a very good thing, or those of us without cars wouldn't be able to get there.

Anyone have a link handy to the text or pdf of the judge's decision?

Ann, you are DEAD ON about your assertions about this having racial undercurrents.

I actually got into an e-mail flame up with a City Council member, and his e-mails to me are in the PP court filings. I was stunned by what I felt was a racially motivated anger by the Alderman who responded to me. Anyone interested in reading his conversations let me know; they're already part of public record, and I always e-mailed him and the entire Council.

And I want to second String Bean Jen's description of the location. It is perfect- it is tucked away with the entrance on a private drive, it is in a safe area, and once the protesters realize their message won't be able to harass the women entering At. All (there is no way to hear them or even really see them if you enter from the Dominick's side) they will back off too.

Aurora is a huge city people, with many different neighborhoods. While the PP might be in the more middle-class area, the home values are around the 250-300s (full disclosure-mine is in that range and in the same 8th Ward as the PP)

llama and jean- are either of you speaking at the council meeting Tuesday. I'm still trying to sign up. I was thinking about going door to door to get signatures for Pro PP residents to present to the council on Tuesday since so many people who are pro/indifferent don't show up in the numbers that the anti-choice people do. Any thoughts/ recommendations?

Here is PP's blog- they blogged live during the proceedings

http://ppaurora.blogspot.com/

Here is a really link-heavy site about the matter (avoid the comments section if you don't feel like getting agitated)
http://openline.blogspot.com/

I suggest scrolling down and reading the motions that were filed by PP in this post:
OK Ground Zero, Here It Goes Again | Planned Parenthood vs. City of Aurora

The counter response is pretty awesome.

kmg -

Judge Norgle issued a verbal order. I don't know if the actual written version has been posted on PACER yet, but it should be available there soon.

lilianna28 - I'll be signing up to speak. I live in Lockport, so I'm sure I won't actually get to, but I'd at least like to get into the room and see the meeting. If you're going to speak, sign up as soon as possible. Last time, only around 60 people (out of the 140 who signed up) were allowed to speak before they ended the meeting.

Chiasatan, thanks. That would explain why I wasn't finding it. Sounds like there won't be a lot of meat, though, until they get to the merits?

Reminds me of the drama 1995-98 in Bettendorf, Iowa, not to far away from Aurora, when every time PP bought a piece of land to open a clinic, the city council would change the zoning designation on them.

Best of luck to those of you going to the council meeting on Tuesday. I hope you get to speak. These were the suggestions for help posted on the PP Aurora blog:

If you’re local to the Aurora or Chicago area: Join other Planned Parenthood supporters for a Pro-choice Rally this Tuesday, September 25th, 5:00pm Aurora City Hall! We will provide t-shirts and signs until we run out to anyone who shows up to stand in support of the Aurora Planned Parenthood health center.

If you can’t make it to the rally you can still take action:
Donate your time, email volunteer@ppca.org for more information.
E-mail the Aurora City Council
E-mail a Letter to the Editor
Request a "This Family Supports Planned Parenthood" yard sign

If you’re further away but would still like to be involved, please consider making a donation to support Planned Parenthood.

Anyone who insists this ruling "is not about abortion" is either lying or has his head up his *ss.

Of COURSE it's about abortion. The pro-lifers have been out with their disgusting signs all week and the city council backed down.

I resent the portrayal of PP as an 'abortion clinic." Yes they do abortions, but they also dispense birth control, do Pap smears, provide essential women's health care like breast cancer screening and treatment for STDs. Why do people have to be so ignorant?

You know, 7.5 million really ain't that much when you consider that there was recently a Creationist museum built in Kentucky for 27 million. If these people want to see excess, they should look towards their own first.

lilianna28 - i know the alderman you are referring to, he is my alderman as well. after reading some of his comments, i will definetly be looking to get him voted out of office next election. i would be very interested in helping you with any grassroots efforts you may start in the area. i'm so disgusted at the way the council has caved to pressure, the city knew PP would be the residents when they issued the temp. occupancy permit.

sorry - my above post should say kmg

I lived in a neighbourhood with an abortion clinic for years. Strangely, the protesters who used to harass me were rarely deterred when I explained that I was merely on my way home, and that as a lesbian, I was relatively unlikely to require the services of the abortion clinic.

Of course, it was very convenient. I could tell anti-choice wingnuts what assholes I think they are without having to go far from the comfort of my own home. Most people have to go out of their way to counter-protest instead of having the opportunity to do it every time they have to go grab a container of milk.