I don’t know about the average New Yorker, although I suspect most of them won’t care. They keep electing mayors like deblasio, for example. The unions, however, are another story. The New York construction and trade unions were dead set against this project the last time around. If it does actually get built I wouldn’t want to set foot inside, there is no telling what all got sabotaged.
“... They keep electing mayors like Bill Deblasio ...”
Why did Bill Deblasio change his name from Warren Wilhelm Jr.?
You got to the heart of the matter by bringing up New York City Construction unions. All it takes is for the heads of each trade (iron workers, electricians, plumbers, HVAC, etc.) to hold a joint press conference and announce that this atrocity will never be built, that a serious, not-to-be-crossed picket line will be in place and head busting will the method of enforcement for any scabs foolish enough to try going in. Police and sanitation are also strongly organized and will probably be in sympathy with those walking the picket line, especially considering how many of their members were killed on 9/11 and the PBA’s current relationship with DeBlasio.
Any push back from city politicians or prominent liberal groups should be met with a general strike on ALL construction in the city and increased efforts to educate the public on what is really going on and what these “prayer centers” actually represent: celebratory monuments to moslem conquests. I’m sure there are many 9/11Survivor groups who would be happy to engage anyone foolish enough to criticize the organized labor protesters. And best of all would be spontaneous guerrilla actions by independent outraged citizens, to wit: deliveries getting lost, equipment breakdowns to which repair crews never show up, mysterious blackouts, etc.
For all the liberals who get the lions share of publicity from sympathetic mass media, the city is actually populated by a silent majority of veterans, patriotic blue collar workers and enough people for whom 9/11 is more than just a date. I predict that the rest of the country will be pleasantly surprised at their reaction if the powers-that-be are foolish enough to let this go forward.