NEW YORK—The New York Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to deny landmark status to the building at 45-47 Park Place located two blocks from ground zero, paving the way for the construction of a mosque and community center that has been the center of heated debate due to its proximity to the site of the worst terrorist attack ever conducted on American soil.
Of the 11 members on the panel of commissioners, nine attended Tuesday’s public voting, which was headed by commissioner Robert B. Tierney. If the building is granted individual landmark designation, it must seek approval from the commission before alterations or destruction are allowed. The law also stipulates that the purpose of the building is not to be considered when determining whether the building warrants this designation.
All nine commissioners weighed in on the historical and artistic significance of the building during the voting proceeding and agreed that the building did not meet the requirements for a landmark designation, which must display “special character or special historical or aesthetic interest or value, as part of the development, heritage, or cultural characteristics of the city, state, or nation,” according to the commission’s website.
Tierney said that the building at 45-47 Park Place “does not rise to the level of an individual landmark” and that the arguments for a landmark designation were “ultimately unpersuasive.”
Previous arguments for the landmark status had included the building’s unique Italian Renaissance-style architectural design and the fact that a wheel from the American Airlines Flight 11 plane that crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, had landed at the site.
The commissioners, however, noted that many other buildings in the city have similar designs, and Commissioner Christopher Moore said many other locations near ground zero had also been hit by the debris.
The public voting was attended by those who opposed, as well as by those who supported the building of Park51, the Islamic community center that will also house a prayer room for Muslims. One protester walked in during the voting and held up a sign that read, “Don’t glorify murders of 3000—no 9/11 victory mosque.”
Issac Luria, communications director for J Street, an organization that advocates and lobbies for “pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans,” was there to submit over 10,000 signatures collected in support of the mosque.
“This is a critical moment for the American-Jewish community. Will we line up with religious freedom, or will we side with bigotry and Islamophobia? The Muslim community here in New York has rights just as much as everyone else does. And as American Jews, we believe that our heritage informs us that it’s important to stand up strong when religious freedom of others is threatened here in America,” Luria told reporters, calling this a “watershed moment” for the community.
Marion Dreyfus, who lost a fellow co-worker in the Sept. 11 attacks, said: “It is deeply offensive, the same as if the Japanese had established in Pearl Harbor a Japanese cultural center. It would not have happened. Or if the Germans established a cultural center over Auschwitz. That would not have been acceptable. This too, is deeply offensive and is a stab and a thorn in our eye, deliberately.”
Linda Rivera, a protester at the voting, told reporters: “It’s [the mosque] is a betrayal. It’s a betrayal of the murdered 3000 American brothers and sisters. It’s a betrayal of our brave and wonderful firemen and policemen who willingly and graciously gave their lives to save people.”
The Cordoba Initiative, the group that is planning the construction of the community center, has said that the venue is “not intended to be a house of worship, exclusive to Muslims.” Rather, the center will include a theater, a swimming pool, art exhibition space, and restaurants, intended to “form a cultural nexus” and promote “integration, tolerance of difference, and community cohesion through arts and culture,” according to the group’s website.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio expressed his concern about the possibility that the financing of the center may include foreign funds from extremist groups and governments.
“A lot of this can be cleared up ... if Andrew Cuomo were to step forward and conduct a proper inquiry and guarantee transparency, and/or [if] the imam himself and the organizers say, ‘We understand this is an incredibly sensitive, sacred area for New Yorkers and for Americans. We’re going to take the step of opening up our books and making sure that every person has a peace of mind to know what the funding sources are.’ The fact that they refuse to do that should raise additional questions for all of us,” Lazio told the press after the voting.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and the local community board have expressed support for the building of Park51.
Andy Sullivan, who told the commissioners to look into the television cameras and apologize for their decision, said it would not be easy for construction to go through. Sullivan was working as a construction worker across the street at One Liberty Tower when the planes hit the Twin Towers.
“If that thing passes through the Building Department ... you’re going to have a problem getting labor there. Because everybody I talk to, they will not lift a finger to construct that disgrace,” he said.
Of the 11 members on the panel of commissioners, nine attended Tuesday’s public voting, which was headed by commissioner Robert B. Tierney. If the building is granted individual landmark designation, it must seek approval from the commission before alterations or destruction are allowed. The law also stipulates that the purpose of the building is not to be considered when determining whether the building warrants this designation.
All nine commissioners weighed in on the historical and artistic significance of the building during the voting proceeding and agreed that the building did not meet the requirements for a landmark designation, which must display “special character or special historical or aesthetic interest or value, as part of the development, heritage, or cultural characteristics of the city, state, or nation,” according to the commission’s website.
Tierney said that the building at 45-47 Park Place “does not rise to the level of an individual landmark” and that the arguments for a landmark designation were “ultimately unpersuasive.”
Previous arguments for the landmark status had included the building’s unique Italian Renaissance-style architectural design and the fact that a wheel from the American Airlines Flight 11 plane that crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, had landed at the site.
The commissioners, however, noted that many other buildings in the city have similar designs, and Commissioner Christopher Moore said many other locations near ground zero had also been hit by the debris.
The public voting was attended by those who opposed, as well as by those who supported the building of Park51, the Islamic community center that will also house a prayer room for Muslims. One protester walked in during the voting and held up a sign that read, “Don’t glorify murders of 3000—no 9/11 victory mosque.”
Issac Luria, communications director for J Street, an organization that advocates and lobbies for “pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans,” was there to submit over 10,000 signatures collected in support of the mosque.
“This is a critical moment for the American-Jewish community. Will we line up with religious freedom, or will we side with bigotry and Islamophobia? The Muslim community here in New York has rights just as much as everyone else does. And as American Jews, we believe that our heritage informs us that it’s important to stand up strong when religious freedom of others is threatened here in America,” Luria told reporters, calling this a “watershed moment” for the community.
Marion Dreyfus, who lost a fellow co-worker in the Sept. 11 attacks, said: “It is deeply offensive, the same as if the Japanese had established in Pearl Harbor a Japanese cultural center. It would not have happened. Or if the Germans established a cultural center over Auschwitz. That would not have been acceptable. This too, is deeply offensive and is a stab and a thorn in our eye, deliberately.”
Linda Rivera, a protester at the voting, told reporters: “It’s [the mosque] is a betrayal. It’s a betrayal of the murdered 3000 American brothers and sisters. It’s a betrayal of our brave and wonderful firemen and policemen who willingly and graciously gave their lives to save people.”
The Cordoba Initiative, the group that is planning the construction of the community center, has said that the venue is “not intended to be a house of worship, exclusive to Muslims.” Rather, the center will include a theater, a swimming pool, art exhibition space, and restaurants, intended to “form a cultural nexus” and promote “integration, tolerance of difference, and community cohesion through arts and culture,” according to the group’s website.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio expressed his concern about the possibility that the financing of the center may include foreign funds from extremist groups and governments.
“A lot of this can be cleared up ... if Andrew Cuomo were to step forward and conduct a proper inquiry and guarantee transparency, and/or [if] the imam himself and the organizers say, ‘We understand this is an incredibly sensitive, sacred area for New Yorkers and for Americans. We’re going to take the step of opening up our books and making sure that every person has a peace of mind to know what the funding sources are.’ The fact that they refuse to do that should raise additional questions for all of us,” Lazio told the press after the voting.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, and the local community board have expressed support for the building of Park51.
Andy Sullivan, who told the commissioners to look into the television cameras and apologize for their decision, said it would not be easy for construction to go through. Sullivan was working as a construction worker across the street at One Liberty Tower when the planes hit the Twin Towers.
“If that thing passes through the Building Department ... you’re going to have a problem getting labor there. Because everybody I talk to, they will not lift a finger to construct that disgrace,” he said.
