Posted on 08/03/2010 9:54:31 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission — "responsible for identifying and designating the City's landmarks and the buildings in the City's historic districts" — has decided not to assign landmark status to a building on Park Place, two blocks north of Ground Zero.
After the board's unanimous vote, its chairman, Robert B. Tierney, said the structure, which previously home to a Burlington Coat Factory, "does not rise to the level of an individual landmark."
Having surmounted the hurdle, a developer is now free to change or demolish the 152-year-old structure, clearing the way for the construction of a controversial $100 million, 13-story Islamic community center, which would include a mosque.
Last week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) joined a loud chorus of opposition to such a facility near Ground Zero, whose ranks include Sarah Palin and several other politicians and activists.
"Some legitimate questions have been raised about who is providing the funding to build it, and what connections, if any, its leaders might have with groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values," the ADL said in a statement.
Ultimately, this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right. In our judgment, building an Islamic center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain unnecessarily, and that is not right.
Many critics of the community center, which is also known as the Cordoba House and Park51, say that there is no reason it needs to be built so close to Ground Zero.
The Wall Street Journal published a letter to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the man charged with planning the community center, from Dan Senor — an adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a resident of Lower Manhattan, previously a senior adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq.
"While we continue to stand with you and your right to proceed with this project, we see no reason why it must necessarily be located so close to the site of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks," he wrote. "Those attacks, as you well know, were committed in the name of Islam."
We applaud and thank every Muslim throughout the world who has rejected and denounced this association. But the fact remains that in the minds of many who are swayed by the most radical interpretations of Islam, the Cordoba House will not be seen as a center for peace and reconciliation. It will rather be celebrated as a Muslim monument erected on the site of a great Muslim "military" victory — a milestone on the path of the further spread of Islam throughout the world.
According to The New York Times, today's meeting "was free of much of the vitriol that had marked previous hearings."
One by one, members of the commission debated the aesthetic significance of the building, designed in the Italian Renaissance Palazzo style by an unknown architect.
Before the hearing, Elisabeth de Bourbon, a spokeswoman for the Landmarks Preservation Commission, said that, "what we're looking at is whether the building has the architectural and historic significance to the city of New York to merit landmark designation." In other words, its members were not asked to consider the planned use of the structure or site.
>> As Conservatives we must support the Property Rights of those who own the property where the mosque will be built.
No such axiom exists.
There seems to be a conflict between idealism and wisdom, and ill-conceived perceptions of intolerance associated with the latter.
This is an especially cruel slap in the face to the families of the 911 victims.
Yeah, then after they are attacked, will use it as reason to attack America-what a nightmare
Fools, all....
“This is a slap in the face to most Americans.”
No it’s not.
Its a fitting tribute to NYC Liberalism.
I have no national commonalities with a NYer. None.
When they are attacked again you will not see any thing like the outpouring of sympathy you saw 9-11-01.
FNYC
Leftists and Islamists are the same thing.
Yes, it is.
In many ways, I consider the left more dangerous than Islamists. After all, they were responsible for various terrorist attacks and genocidal dictators.
It was a little and nice church. Should of been rebuilt.
Or..... Let the building be torn down and then daily pummel the site with bacon.
There will be plenty. And many more where that comes from.
I’ve worked in field of Historic Preservation in neighboring New Jersey, and I can tell you the Landmarks COmmission was constrained more by the inability to foresee this day and do something pre-emptively about it; ie, work on ways in which to make the entire area an inviolable historic site, never to be threatened by ANY developer, let alone a highly dubious Islamic one. But they didn’t do that, and now, SUPRISE! someone jumps into the fray waving millions of dollars around, wanting ‘sincerely’ to do something good for the city and the nation, and for the interfaith ‘project’ , and they’re stuck having to enforce their antiquated guidelines for what constitutes ‘historic significance’ and what doesn’t. CONSIDER that it’s been NINE YEARS since 9-11, and all the plans for rebuilding the Twin TOwers have dissolved in the usual political/financial wrangling, and you have an idea as to why we are NOW vulnerable to people like Imam Rauf.
Must see!
Of Mosques and Men: Reflections on the Ground Zero Mosque
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxFzFIDbKpg
Ground Zero Mosque
“I am very concerned about the decision in NYC reference the approval to construct a mosque near the sacred Ground Zero site in New York City. Leadership is based upon courage, competence, commitment, conviction, and character, something lacking in those supporting the building of this structure. Mayor Bloomberg’s assertion that refusal to allow this mosque to be built would be a victory for Islamic terrorists is an illogical statement. He certainly has not studied the history of Islamic conquest against western civilization. I am available for a tutorial.
It never ceases to amaze me how liberals can take an act of cowardice and make it sound profoundly brave. There is a simple maxim that I use to express this situation, “when tolerance becomes a one way street, it leads to cultural suicide”. The individuals who hijacked two airplanes and flew them into the World Trade Center towers shouted, “Allahu Akhbar”. The individuals who will attend the mosque would offer up like praise of “Allahu Akhbar”. The individuals who detonate suicide vests, behead school teachers and headmasters, throw acid on little girls trying to attend school, and fire rockets into Israel shout, “Allahu Akhbar”.
I do not support the building of a mosque at ground zero. It is not about Muslims, it is about a totalitarian, theocratic-political ideology with an imperialistic objective which I will not allow to claim victory in my Country.
Since Mayor Bloomberg is a rather financially blessed fella, my recommendation is that he and I take a trip to Mecca and visit the local churches and synagogues.......and on the way back we can have a discussion about religious freedoms and tolerance.”
Steadfast and Loyal
LTC(R) Allen West
As usual, LTC (Ret.) West is spot on. Maybe he will get a chance to do just this. We can hope.
Best definition of Islam yet...from Allen West...
‘Islam’.... is a totalitarian, theocratic-political ideology with an imperialistic objective.
The name “Cordoba” is very closely associated with the Caliphate, particularly the Umayyad Caliphate according to Islamic Scholars (see N.N.Khoury,”The Meaning of Cordoba”, 1996)
Reading this late and needing to repeat it...often.
“There seems to be a conflict between idealism and wisdom, and ill-conceived perceptions of intolerance associated with the latter.”
No, it’s simply a Constitutional issue and the Framers made it very clear that we all have property rights and First Amendment Rights.
And, like it or not, those rights extend to all people, not just the people who who wish those rights to extend.
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