This is video 3 of 3 on the San Diego blessing of the bikes 2014 in La Jolla, California on the top of Mount Soledad.
The blessing of the bikes is an annual event sponsored by San Diego Harley. San Diego Harley is the largest Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealership in the USA.
The ride ended back at San Diego Harley-Davidson where there was a free catered lunch, drinks, live band and bike wash!
Again, this is video #3 of 3 videos on the Blessing of the bikes San Diego California.
The Mount Soledad Cross is a prominent landmark located on top of Mount Soledad in the La Jolla neighborhood of the city of San Diego, California. The present structure was erected in 1954; it is the third cross in that location, the first having been put up in 1913.Architect Donald Campbell designed the present Latin cross in recessed concrete. It is 29 feet (8.8 m) tall (43 feet tall including the base) with a 12-foot (3.7 m) arm spread.
Beginning in 1989, almost ten years before the immediate area around the cross was turned into a war memorial, and ongoing to the present, the Mt. Soledad Cross had been involved in a continuous litigation regarding its legal status. According to the cross’s opponents’ interpretation of the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the No Preference Clause of the California Constitution, it is illegal to display a religious symbol, such as a Christian cross, on public land, as it demonstrates preference to a specific religion and thus violates the separation of church and state. Judges have sided with plaintiffs on multiple occasions and ruled that the cross is illegal and had to be removed or sold to the highest bidder. Defenders of the cross explored several options for preserving the cross.
In 1998 the City of San Diego sold the cross and the land it stands on to the nonprofit Mount Soledad Memorial Association, and the cross was transformed into being the centerpiece of a newly erected Korean War Memorial. The land under the cross was eventually transferred to the federal government. So far, the courts have decided, even if the transfer itself is legal, it does not solve the fundamental problem of the argument that the cross is not legal on any government-owned property. In 2011 a federal court found the cross unconstitutional, and in 2012 the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal, returning the issue to federal court. In December 2013 a federal judge ordered the cross to be removed, but stayed the order pending appeal.
The American Civil Liberties Union proposed ways to resolve the situation:
The cross may be dismantled.
The cross may be sold to a third party and physically transferred off the public land. An Episcopal church, located within a few hundred feet from the present location of the cross, has agreed to place it on its property.
The government may hold an auction and sell the parcel of the land with the cross to the highest bidder. However, the government is not allowed to give any preference to those buyers who are interested in preserving the cross. An auction such as this was the subject of Proposition K in 2004, which failed 40% to 59%.
Defenders of the cross see all these options as unacceptable and are determined to find a way to leave the cross intact in its present location.
