At behest of Hamas-linked CAIR, DoJ sues Minnesota town for rejecting mosque

Jihad Watch ^ | 8/27/2014 | Robert Spencer

[markomalley]

The town rejected the Islamic center on zoning grounds, but at a meeting, some opponents of the project “made disparaging remarks about the Muslim faith.” Time to call in the Thought Police! Time for Obama’s feds to force the mosque on this city! It is impossible to have a mature discussion about mosques in the U.S. It is impossible to point out that 80% of mosques in the U.S. are Saudi-funded, and that four separate, independent studies since 1998 have found that 80% also teach hatred of Jews and Christians and the supremacy of Sharia over Constitutional law. Anyone who points out such things is immediately accused of “racism,” “bigotry,” “hatred” and “Islamophobia.”

Yet the concerns are legitimate. Would the feds be suing the city of St. Anthony if it had rejected a church funded by a foreign government that was ostensibly an ally but that had spent billions to fund enemies of the U.S., and that taught that ultimately the Constitution would have to be replaced with a theocracy? I expect that in such a case, the feds would be suing the church, not the city that turned it down.

“Feds plan to sue city of St. Anthony over rejection of Islamic center,” by Shannon Prather, Star Tribune, August 27, 2014 (thanks to Jerk Chicken):

The U.S. Department of Justice plans to sue the city of St. Anthony for rejecting a proposed Islamic center in 2012.

Federal authorities recently sent the city notice of their intent to sue, and U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger is expected to announce the civil rights lawsuit alleging religious discrimination at a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

The St. Anthony City Council met with its attorney behind closed doors on Aug. 18 to discuss the threat of litigation. Mayor Jerry Faust said the city turned over documentation on the matter to federal authorities more than a year ago.

“They’ve taken a lot of records of ours. I am sure that’s what it’s about,” Faust said. “We have to give them all of our e-mails.”

The U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis has spent two years investigating the matter, with its spokeswoman saying at one point they had sought to reach an out-of-court agreement with the parties.

In June 2012, the St. Anthony City Council voted down the proposed Abu Huraira Islamic Center, concluding that a religious and cultural center was incompatible with the site’s light-industrial zoning. The council’s 4-1 decision went against a city planning commission recommendation to approve the 15,000-square-foot center in the old Medtronic headquarters at 3055 Old Highway 8.

The council decision came after some St. Anthony residents voiced their opposition to the proposed center. More than 150 people packed the meeting, and some made disparaging remarks about the Muslim faith.

Jim Roth, the lone council member to vote in favor of the Islamic center, predicted at the time of the vote that the council’s rejection would spawn a lawsuit. Roth said he was “embarrassed” and “stunned” by some of the remarks made.

St. Anthony city leaders have maintained the decision was grounded solely in land-use issues. St. Anthony is a “first-ring” suburb of Minneapolis that’s just 2.35 square miles with 8,200 people.

The Minnesota Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations asked federal authorities to investigate whether the city violated the federal Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000(RLUIPA).

In August 2012, two months after the council’s rejection, the Muslim group proposing the Islamic center purchased the former Medtronic Inc. headquarters for $1.9 million.

Mosques and Islamic school projects have faced opposition across the state. Some community members opposed projects in Plymouth, Willmar, Bloomington and Blaine, but all were approved.

[HiTech RedNeck]

What a silly ass of a government this is.

[SkyDancer]

Islam offends me. Get rid of it. It works both ways.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Considering that Minneapolis is “Jihad-Central” for America, I’m surprised that they still allow Moslems to come and live there.

The American jihadist killed in Syria was born in Minneapolis, according to news reports. Somali-born/US born Somalis who now fight for Al-Shaab there were born/raised in Minneapolis.

The Secretary of State of Minnesota, Mark Ritchie, is a documented Communist Party sympathizer (See: The Enemy Within (and The Enemy Within: Communists, Marxists and Socialist in the US Congress”, Trevor Loudon, 2011 & 2013, resp., www.pacificfreedomfoundation.org or Amazon).

Minnesota has long been a red stronghold, and now a jihadist sanctuary. CAIR did what Moslem Brotherhood-affiliated US Moslem organizations do, promote fundamentalist Islam and attack those who oppose its jihadist centers of propaganda and hate.

[hondact200]

so it was rejected by the people. But the Islamists went ahead and purchased the property for 1.9 million. Yet the city is a suburb of Minneapolis and its population is less than 10000. So it must allow a Muslim Center for Worship. Excuse me but where is it that the Muslims are guaranteed property wherever they chose to have it. BS!

I live in a town that at one time had a Jewish Synagogue, but as the Mining of Iron diminished the Synagogue ceased to exist when the Jewish population left. There was a polish catholic church and a catholic church for the Italians, Today the Polish Catholic Church no longer exists. The Finnish Lutheran Church, the Swedish Lutheran Church and the German Lutheran Church still exist to this day. Parts of the town are still refered to as the locations of the mines, or the population that lived there. Frenchtown, or such and such mine. Hey the nicknames of the Italian area still exists Dago, but that is considered degratory.

This towns population is under 3000. The entire county is less than 12000 people.

[ilovesarah2012]

We are living in a nightmare.

[Da Coyote]

Shove it, DoJ.

Up your Mohammed.

[HiTech RedNeck]

I’d be pretty sure the idea isn’t just to serve the Muslims in that small suburb, but in the greater Minneapolis metro area.

[HiTech RedNeck]

The genuine God can wake it up.

[TurboZamboni]

But city officials pointed out that St. Anthony rejected a similar request from a Christian group just last year. In that case, officials cited parking concerns; in the Islamic center's case, the worry is more about eroding the city's tax base. Assuming the industrial property is being used productively, it can provide more tax revenue to the city than if it were repurposed for a religious use.

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2012/06/st_anthony_council_rejects_islamic_center_islam_is_evil_says_one_opponent.php

[ealgeone]

Let them open and immediately approve licenses for BBQ places next door. The smell of bacon would permeate the place.

[abclily]

What are the federal guidelines for an organization to be recognized as a religion by the IRS?

[HiTech RedNeck]

Quite true... they don’t get to choose their neighbors. A pork barbecue joint on one side. A puppy store on the other.

[bk1000]

“They’ve taken a lot of records of ours. I am sure that’s what it’s about,” Faust said. “We have to give them all of our e-mails.”

Just tell them your hard drive crashed and you can’t provide any emails.

[ExCTCitizen]

CAIR - Communist Anti American Islamic moRons.

[JoeVet]

A BBQ joint isn’t enough. Zone next door for a hog slaughter house. Make sure it folds around on the east and west side of the mosque. That way, mooseslims are always praying towards a pigs az*.

[EinNYC]

Let them spend their money and then blow it up. Just like THEY did to churches and synagogues.

[Gideon7]

The building in question is called the Saint Anthony Business Center (SABC). It is the old Medtronics headquarters in the 1970s.

The owner prior to Abu Huraira was the Jeffrey Wirth. He is currently in federal prison for tax evasion. Abu Huraria picked up he building for a song during the liquidation process.

The tenants were not informed about any of this. I own a business that was located in the basement of that building. I didn't know what was going until suddenly the parking lot was filled with Somali cabs every night.

I moved out because I knew I was going to be evicted at some point, and probably soon.

Here is a floorplan of the basement of the building in question:

There is no way you can hold any sort of large assembly in that space. The largest room is the boiler room (upper right).

After I left, Abu Huraira stiffed me on my lease deposit.

[Gideon7]

A big 'For Lease' sign appeared on the property a few days ago:

Perhaps some intrepid reporter could call them to ask what is going on. (I am not sure that Abu Huraia even owns the building anymore.)

[Gideon7]

What is really weird is that I never saw anyone who claimed to represent Abu Huraira. I got a letter from Wirth that ownership was being transferred, and to make rent checks out to Abu Huraria instead of him. But to mail them to the same address, his main office in Brooklyn Park.

Any time I called them for anything it was the same staff that worked for Wirth. After Wirth went to prison I kept sending checks, but it was like a black hole. I never heard anything from them ever again. When I send my official lease-ending notice via certified mail, I got back a signature receipt and that was it. No acknowledgment that I was ending my lease, nothing.

And I have since send them several dunning letters to get my office lease deposit. Nothing. I plan to sue to small claims court next, which I expect to win by default as I would be very surprised if anyone shows up.

From anything I have seen, Abu Huraira is a ghost.