Ground Zero Mosque Clears Another Hurdle in New York

NEW YORK -- After months of intense debate here and across the nation, the city today opened the way for the construction of a mosque and Islamic center two blocks from Ground Zero, site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

The decision by the city Landmarks and Preservation Commission, which had been expected, allows for the transformation of a 152-year-old building into the proposed center just north of Ground Zero. The vote was 9-0 against granting landmark status to the building, which freed Islamic center organizers to tear it down and built the center on that site.

The commission's ruling followed heated discussions by local community boards and national religious groups and political figures, most notably Sarah Palin, who asked New Yorkers to help stop the project. Last Friday an influential Jewish organization, the Anti-Defamation League, which had supported plans for the mosque, reversed itself and announced its opposition. But it was not able to derail the planned $100 million, 15-story facility.

New York City government officials, led by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, had approved the project all along. Bloomberg defended it, saying, "Everything the United States stands for and New York stands for is tolerance and openness."

The project, once called the Cordoba House (named after Cordoba, Spain, the capital of Muslim conquerors), is now known as Park51, after its street address on Park Place and Broadway in Lower Manhattan. When completed, the building will incorporate a prayer space to accommodate 2,000 worshipers; a gym and pool; a 500-seat theater and galleries for exhibitions; and a catering hall for weddings and other social events. Its construction is being spearheaded by American Muslim cleric Feisal Abdul Rauf.

The very size of Park51 has offended the families of 9/11 victims, as well as other opponents, who include Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives. The Anti-Defamation League, for instance, asked that the center be built farther away from Ground Zero.

Ground Zero is sacred ground to millions of Americans, but most principally to the loved ones of the victims -- wives, parents, children, friends -- whose memory of the attacks hasn't diminished with the passage of nearly 10 years. Their distress over the proposal grew despite votes by the local community board in support of the center and has become a national political issue in the past few weeks.