Late last year a small memorial to our soldiers killed in Iraq appeared on a hillside piece of land in Lafayette, CA-- visible from parts of Highway 24 and from the BART tracks that parallel the highway.  At first the memorial was relatively inconspicuous-- a few dozen three-foot tall white crosses planted randomly across the hill-- and a small sign two-thirds of the way up the slope that was periodically painted over with the updated total lost since hostilities began in Iraq.  But the memorial grew less inconspicuous as the crosses and the war dead multiplied-- one for each serviceman or servicewoman killed throughout the war since 2003.  And with the rapidly multiplying crosses came multiplied visitors, cameras and news crews, and neighborhood, community and ideological conflict.  Now the Crosses of Lafayette have become lightning rods for controversy on many levels.

Local news follows the story routinely and blogs and articles pro and con have circulated across the net.  The memorial has become generally symbolic of the anti-war sentiment and peace protests have become common.  Many fathers and mothers of service members memorialized feel the anti-war tone of the hillside has trivializes the sacrifice their sons and daughters have made for our country.  Others are proud to voice opposition to the war alongside a cross bearing testimony to their personal loss.  Front and center near the sidewalk is the cross bearing James Coon's name-- James and my son played football together at Las Lomas High School and James bagged my families groceries at the local supermarket.  My son went to college.  James went to Iraq.  Just as it was when I was that age and the rationale for war was similarly mysterious.  Politics and personal values always seem to collide when war is the fulcrum-- it's hard to be anything but polarized and almost impossible to be 'sort of for it' or 'sort of against it' really.

What was lost in the initial days of the memorial was its potential impact on the surrounding properties-- especially as it grew, as it became a local landmark, and as it became ever more controversial.  The Wall Street Journal captured the issue nicely earlier this month and raised the issue of individual property rights versus the property value impacts those expressions can force upon a surrounding neighborhood.  I suspect the memorial's organizers gave little thought initially to the potential devaluation of surrounding properties.  I suspect they couldn't foresee the potential traffic implications, the neighborhood disruption, and the many hours city staff and elected officials would need to devote toward refereeing the memorial's many battles carried out on many fronts.  Is a cross a sign or is it landscaping?  Is it art?  Can too much landscaping or art be legislated?  Can perceived negative impacts upon a neighborhood by legal use within the current zoning and code structures be used to change zoning and codes and, if so, can they be applied retroactively?  Is one person's right to free speech worth more than another's right to not be deprived of property value?

To not be deprived of our right to hold and use property without just compensation is guaranteed to us in Article V of our Constitution.  But this applies to our government creating the deprivation.  What about when our neighbor deprives us of satisfactory use of our property?  If my neighbor's lawful use of his property creates a deprivation of my use of my property, am I entitled to 'just compensation' somehow?  Or am I merely resigned to accept that this is one of the many costs of freedom-- and one that, all things being equal, is far easier for me and my family to bear the burden of than the costs being borne by the memorialized servicemen and servicewomen and their families?

I cannot to this day listen to Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's Find The Cost Of Freedom without fighting back tears and I cannot fathom the depth of loss a parent must bear losing a child to war. 

My property does not abut the Lafayette war memorial and my property value is not affected one way or the other by its existence.  If it did, I might feel differently.  I am in the next community and I am not financially impacted.  But I am affected by this issue nonetheless and I carry with me the satisfaction that the very freedoms these memorialized citizens died to defend are being exercised because of their sacrifices.  And, given that, the valuation issues and the deprivation of property borne by some in Lafayette seems to be just compensation. 

I know that many of you will disagree with me on this issue.  But I also know I will not be imprisoned or otherwise deprived of my liberties for having spoken.  To those memorialized, my undying gratitude for your gift which allows me to know this to be true.

Chris Hendricks