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"Ground Zero" Mosque Faces Another Surprise Hurdle
By
John Del Signore
Published Aug 9, 2010
Modified Aug 9, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Aug 9, 2010
Modified Aug 9, 2010
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It never ends! Over the weekend the Post realized that the location of the proposed Islamic community center and mosque on Park Place is not fully owned by the group that intends to build it. According to the Post, Soho Properties told officials that it owns the entire parcel, but they actually only own half; 45-47 Park Place. Con Edison owns the other half, at 49-51 Park Place. "We never heard anything about Con Ed whatsoever," Julie Menin, the chairwoman of Community Board 1, which passed a May resolution supporting the mosque, tells the tabloid.
Sharif El-Gamal, the head of Soho Properties, bought the 45-47 Park Place half of the building for $4.8 million, and last year paid an extra $700,000 to take over the lease with Con Ed for the building next door. That lease expires in 2071, but Con Ed is now doing an appraisal to determine the property value. It's estimated to cost between $10 million to $20 million, and any sale will have to go before the state's Public Service Commission [PSC], where it could possibly face a vote by a five-member board controlled by Gov. Paterson.
Paterson supports the Islamic center, but his spokesperson promises he won't get involved. "We are following our legal obligations under the lease," says a Con Ed spokesperson. "We will not allow other considerations to enter into this transaction." And it's unclear if the commission will in fact vote on it. "As of today, we are not sure if this issue will even come before the commission for a determination," says James Denn at the PSC. But if it does, and Rick Lazio is governor, he's promising to put the kibosh on the mosque:
"As governor I will appoint commissioners... who, like me, oppose this group's plan to build a mosque at Ground Zero—and I encourage New Yorkers to call the Public Service commissioners and tell them the same," Lazio said. The commission can reject a sale if it could impact the utility's capacity to deliver services, but Soho Properties says they can build the mosque even if they're renting, not owning.
And in case you missed the front-page article in yesterday's Times about mosque phobia gripping the nation, here's our favorite part. "As a mother and a grandmother, I worry," Diana Serafin, an unemployed grandmother living 60 miles outside San Diego, said. "I learned that in 20 years with the rate of the birth population, we will be overtaken by Islam, and their goal is to get people in Congress and the Supreme Court to see that Shariah is implemented. My children and grandchildren will have to live under that. I do believe everybody has a right to freedom of religion. But Islam is not about a religion. It’s a political government, and it’s 100 percent against our Constitution."
Tagged
con ed
ground zero mosque
mosque
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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