THE GUARDIAN: A plan to build a mosque and a Muslim community centre within two blocks of Ground Zero cleared a major hurdle today amid an intensifying groundswell of opposition from rightwing pundits and politicians.
The $100m project would see a 13-storey centre, replete with prayer space, swimming pool and restaurant, rise in Park Place, just north of the World Trade Centre where al-Qaida terrorists struck on 11 September 2001.
Opponents turned to the Landmarks Commission of New York City, that has the power to order the preservation of historic buildings, in the hope that it would put a stop to the plans by blocking the demolition of the existing building on the site.
Today the commission unanimously declined to preserve the building, an 1850s Italianate structure that was damaged on 9/11 and has been disused ever since. It said there was nothing sufficiently distinguished about its design that earned it landmark status.
The decision removes an important possible barrier to the plans going ahead, though critics have vowed to continue their fight. A group of protesters were present at the commission vote, including one man carrying a banner that said: "No 9/11 victory mosque". >>> Ed Pilkington in New York | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
* Are Americans really going to be that weak and subservient? This is quite unbelievable. It would have been totally unimaginable in years gone by. If they allow this mosque to go ahead, they will deserve the Islamisation of their country. They will have earned it! – © Mark
FINANCIAL TIMES: ‘Ground Zero’ mosque moves forward: Months of rising rhetoric about religious freedom came to a head on Tuesday when a city commission voted that a contentious plan to build a mosque two blocks from “Ground Zero” could move forward. >>> Alan Rappeport in New York | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
SKY NEWS: 'Ground Zero Mosque' Set To Go Ahead >>> Hannah Thomas-Peter, in New York | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
BBC: Attempt to block 'Ground Zero mosque' fails: An attempt to stop a plan for a mosque near New York's Ground Zero has failed after the site was denied landmark status. >>> | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: Ground Zero mosque and Muslim community centre wins approval: Controversial plans to build a Muslim community centre and mosque near Ground Zero can go ahead after a conservation agency cleared the way on Tuesday for the demolition of the existing building on the site. >>> Tom Leonard in New York | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: Une mosquée sera construite à deux pas de Ground Zero : POLÉMIQUE | Une commission de la ville de New York chargée de la préservation du patrimoine a levé mardi un obstacle majeur à la construction d’une mosquée près de Ground Zero, en retirant un bâtiment de la liste des monuments historiques. >>> AFP | Mardi 03 Août 2010
NZZ ONLINE: Moschee am Ground Zero darf gebaut werden >>> sda/dpa | Dienstag, 03. August 2010
THE NEW YORK TIMES: After a protracted battle that set off a national debate over freedom of religion, a Muslim center and mosque to be built two blocks from ground zero surmounted a final hurdle on Tuesday.
The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9 to 0 against granting historic protection to the building at 45-47 Park Place in Lower Manhattan, where the $100 million center would be built.
That decision clears the way for the construction of Park51, a tower of as many as 15 stories that will house a mosque, a 500-seat auditorium, and a pool. Its leaders say it will be modeled on the Y.M.C.A. and Jewish Community Center in Manhattan.
The vote on Tuesday was free of much of the vitriol that had been part of 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.
Later in the day, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg*, who has forcefully defended the planned mosque, praised the landmarks commission’s vote. >>> Javier C. Hernandez | Tuesday, August 03, 2010
*The arrogance of Bloomberg is astonishing! Does this man really deserve the position he holds? – © Mark
