A memorial cross at the National September 11 Memorial and Museum in New York can remain at the newly-opened facility, an appeals court ruled Monday.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit found that the cross, located at ground zero, was “a symbol of hope” and historical in nature. It did not intentionally discriminate against a group of atheists who sued to have it removed, they ruled.
Con Ed has given the Ground Zero mosque an ultimatum: Pay the $1.7 million you owe in back rent, or we’ll terminate your lease and take back our property.
Con Ed and mosque developer Park51 have an unusual, uneasy alliance, sharing ownership of a site slated to be one of the most controversial projects in city history.
The utility owns a former substation on the western half of the property, at 51 Park Place, and the mosque developers own a five-story building on the eastern half. The buildings were connected years ago and used to house a Burlington Coat Factory store.
Park51, which leases the substation from Con Ed, wants the two buildings so it can knock both down and build a $100 million, 15-story community center.
But the plan hit a major obstacle in August when Con Ed raised the rent from $2,750 a month, a rate set in 1972, to $47,437 a month, retroactive to July 31, 2008, The Post has learned.
CANCER-STRICKEN Ground Zero worker Edgar Galvis has finally received a compensation cheque - for zero dollars.
The New York Post reported the 51-year-old Queens man, who suffered sinus problems and then throat cancer after months of removing toxic debris from the World Financial Center, was relieved to get a cheque in the mail for his court settlement with Merrill Lynch, whose offices he had cleaned.
But he was stunned when he saw the amount: $0.00.
His award had been $10,005, but his lawyers at the firm Worby, Groner, Edelman & Napoli Bern lopped off $2579 for unitemised legal expenses.
Then they took a 33.3 per cent fee of $2124. They also subtracted $352, a fee to the lawyer who referred him.
The remaining $4950 was withheld for unspecified "liens", the letter says.
The ceremony at the World Trade Center site marking the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks will be a solemn but stately event that will include former President George W. Bush and a chance for victims' families to view the names of loved ones etched into the memorial, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said.
President Barack Obama and Bloomberg will be joined by the leaders in charge during the 2001 attacks, including Bush, former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and former New York Gov. George Pataki. Current New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will also be there, he said.
Speaking on his weekly radio show Friday on WOR-AM, Bloomberg said the lawmakers will read short poems or quotes. No speeches will be given.
"This cannot be political," he said. "So that's why there's a poem or a quote or something that each of the readers will read. No speeches whatsoever. That's not an appropriate thing." Read more...
(ABC News) — The backers of the controversial “Ground Zero Mosque” have won a court fight clearing the way for them to build the mosque and community center complex two blocks from the site of the 9/11 terror attack.
In a decision on Friday that was made public today, New York State Supreme Justice Paul Feinman dismissed a lawsuit by former firefighter Timothy Brown who argued that New York City was wrong to allow the destruction of a 150-year-old building to make way for the Islamic center.
The ex-firefighter who was among those who responded to the terror attack on the World Trade Center said the old building had been struck by debris during the collapse of the twin towers and was a “living representative of the heroic structures that commemorate the events of that day.”
In a 15-page decision Feinman wrote, “Mr. Brown’s claim that his ability to commemorate will be injured, is not yet recognized under the law as a concrete injury that can establish standing. Such an injury, although palpable to Brown, is immeasurable by a court.”
developers they had chosen a inappropriate location, Mayor Bloomberg's top aides bent-over backwards to help them.(NYDN)- Mayor Bloomberg’s top deputies went to great lengths to help the developers of a planned mosque near Ground Zero – even drafting a letter to the community board for them.
A flurry of emails released by City Hall yesterday revealed the coaching Hizzoner’s brass gave to the imam pushing to build the mosque, Feisal Abdul Rauf.
At one point, Community Affairs Commissioner Nazli Parvizi even drafted a letter for Rauf’s wife, Daisy Khan, to send to Community Board 1, which was voting on the project.
The Muslim group has the right to build a mosque and cultural center near Ground Zero, American voters say 70 – 25 percent. But voters say 63 – 28 percent that it is wrong to do so. There is no sub-group which says it is “appropriate” to build the mosque near Ground Zero.
American voters disapprove 44 – 31 percent of the way President Barack Obama is handling the Ground Zero mosque controversy, with 25 percent undecided...
Donald Trump is stepping into the fray over the proposed Islamic cultural center and mosque near Ground Zero. The business magnate and television personality sent a letter to one of the financial backers of the project proposing to buy the building where Park51 would be located.
Trump offered 25 percent more than what the building was bought for. In the letter he makes the offer because it will end a “very serious, inflammatory and highly divisive situation.”
"I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country,"
""If he's listening, I just hope he understands that what he's proposing to do is completely contrary to our values..."
Years before his latest real-estate project ignited an uproar, Sharif El-Gamal racked up at least seven run-ins with the law, including a bust for patronizing a prostitute...
...El-Gamal allegedly cursed at Vassiliev, called him the Arabic curse word "sharmouta" and punched him in the face, breaking his nose and cheekbones.
When he was arrested, El-Gamal denied he socked Vassiliev, but conceded, "[Vassiliev's] face could have run into my hand," court papers say.
Sharif El-Gamal, the leading organizer behind the mosque and community center near Ground Zero, owes $224,270.77 in back property tax on the site, city records show.
El-Gamal's company, 45 Park Place Partners, failed to pay its half-yearly bills in January and July, according to the city Finance Department.
A powerful state politician joined with Gov. David Paterson on Tuesday in suggesting that Islamic leaders should move a proposed Islamic center and mosque farther from ground zero, saying the organizers should be more sensitive to opponents.
The Cordoba Initiative has the right to build the center at a building two blocks from Ground Zero but should be open to compromise, said New York Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who represents the lower Manhattan district.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 85% of U.S. voters say they are now following news stories about the mosque planned near Ground Zero. That’s a 34-point jump from a month ago...
Now 62% oppose the building of a mosque near where the World Trade Center stood in Lower Manhattan, compared to 54% in the previous survey.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (Ill.) said Sunday that those who are opposed to the mosque are trying to divide the country with fear and hate.
“The mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, has given his assent to this center and I support his decision,” Durbin said Sunday. “The politicians like Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin who try to divide America with fear and hate over this issue betray the diversity which makes our nation great and the Constitution which they profess to honor.” Read more here.
“We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than al-Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims. You may remember that the US lead sanction against Iraq lead to the death of over half a million Iraqi children. The West needs to begin to see themselves through the eyes of the Arab and Muslim world, and when you do you will see the predicament that exists within the Muslim community.”
