Mosque Developer Rejects Meeting With Paterson
Updated 11:00 AM EDT, Wed, Aug 18, 2010http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local-beat/Mosque-Developer-Says-No-Meeting-Scheduled-With-Gov-100967889.html________________________
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The developers of an Islamic cultural center that would include a mosque near Ground Zero have rejected Gov. David Paterson's offer to help them find a different site.
Paterson said today the group is apparently committed to building in the proposed site. "I think they would like to stay where they are, and I certainly respect that and I certainly respect them," Paterson said.
But, Paterson said the dialogue would have been useful as the project has ignited nationwide debate over freedom of religion and anger over the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.. "Having said that, how much more foresighted would it have been if the Imam who is the developer of the project had been willing to hear what we are actually talking about?"
The planned $100 million center would be built two blocks from the World Trade Center site, where nearly 2,800 people died when Islamic extremists flew jets into the twin towers. The project is headed by Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, a Muslim cleric who has worked to improve relations between Islam and the West.
"I am very sensitive to the desire of those who are adamant against it to see something else worked out,'' Paterson said last week. The developers declined to comment. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who last week made an impassioned defense of the project, saying it would be a "sad day" if the project gets shut down.
The planned $100 million center would be built two blocks from the World Trade Center site, where nearly 2,800 people died when Islamic extremists flew jets into the twin towers. The project is headed by Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, a Muslim cleric who has worked to improve relations between Islam and the West.
Morgan Hook, a Paterson spokesman, said talks were under way between the governor's office and representatives of Park51 to set up a meeting between Paterson and the project's leaders.
"We are working with the developers on a staff level but there have not been any formal discussions between the governor and imam or developer," Hook said. "We expect to have a meeting scheduled in the near future."
Mosque spokesman Oz Sultan released a statement Tuesday saying he did not believe a meeting had been scheduled yet.
"We appreciate the governor's interest as we continue to have conversations with many officials," Sultan said.
King, the ranking minority leader of the Homeland Security Committee, said that he had spoken to Paterson on Tuesday and that the governor expected the meeting to take place within days.
"He said he is meeting in the next day or so with the developers and the leaders of the mosque to discuss his proposal to move it to state land. My understanding was the imam is going to be there," King told the AP.
Rauf was scheduled to leave this week on a two-week trip to the Middle East as part of a religious outreach effort by the State Department.Meanwhile, a majority of New Yorkers remain opposed to ground zero and the issue will be a factor for many voters this fall, according to a statewide poll released Wednesday.
The Siena College poll showed 63 percent of New York voters surveyed oppose the project, with 27 percent supporting it. That compares with 64 percent opposed and 28 percent in favor two weeks earlier, results that are within the polls' sampling margins surveyed 809 New York City residents July 28 through Aug. 5 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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These pofs are going to bring about this things destruction all on their own.
