Update August 6:
New video of Zead Ramadan, the Hamas-linked CAIR leader who spoke to the fawning press outside the Landmark Commission at Pace University.
This was after the commissioners voted 9-0 to deny landmark status to the old Burlington Coat Factory at 45-47 Park Place.
August 6, The Weekly Standard: STATS on opposition , “According to a Siena poll from yesterday, 61 percent of New Yorkers oppose the Ground Zero mosque. ( 56 percent of New York City residents oppose the mosque.)”
Read specifics on the poll by clicking on Siena (above)and click on picture below to enlarge for better reading:
Update August 4: added a few more pictures…. AND from Andrea Peyser at the NY Post: “A New Hijacking”
“Yesterday’s 9-0 vote by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to deny the soon-to-be-mosque landmark status essentially gift-wrapped the site and delivered it to the venture known as Park 51. This was the latest outrage against those who cry at the thought of seeing an Islamic temple rise atop their loved one’s ashes.[...] Critics, including Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, have been demonized as “racists.” And not just by Muslims. Mayor Bloomberg, the mosque’s chief booster, suggested offensively that those who oppose it are dumb Islamophobes.” Read more
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Update : with info on the commissioners….as we prepare for a lawsuit! Atlas Shrugs has the details and from Robert Spencer:
“…immediately after the Tuesday vote, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) characterized the Landmarks Commission decision as “deeply offensive to many of the victims and families of the 9-11 tragedy.” Jay Sekulow of the ACLJ explained: “The actions taken by the City of New York represent a blatant disregard for the city’s own procedures, while ignoring the fact that this is a historic and hallowed site that should not be destroyed to build an Islamic mosque. It has been clear from the beginning that the city has engaged in a rush to push this project through – ignoring proper procedure and ignoring a growing number of New Yorkers and Americans who don’t believe this site is the place to build a mosque.” As the ACLJ is representing a firefighter who survived 9/11 at the World Trade Center site, Sekulow announced: “We’re poised to file legal action on behalf of our client to challenge this flawed decision and put a stop to this project. [...] “…no one is even calling for the expulsion of the Muslims who are currently praying in the existing former Burlington Coat Factory building at 45 Park Place; the Burlington Coat Factory is not a thirteen-story triumphal mega-mosque.”
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August 3, 2010. 9:30 AM. Pace University. The Landmark Commission was holding a brief 30 minutes session to decide the landmark status of the former Burlington Coat Factory.
Lots of press was waiting to get in when we arrived at 8:30 AM.
Cameras all over the facility, from every angle (particularly CNN)
And this was early…it got only more and more crowded
At 9:30 , the Landmark Commissioners each gave a statement and then voted.
No surprises here. It had been announced the day before that they would NOT be granting landmark status to the Burlington Coat Factory; a building (that still holds a part of one of the planes that was slammed into the WTC on 9-11).
The Commission voted 9-0 to deny landmark status to this building. SoHo Properties/Cordoba Initiative may now demolish 45-47 Park Place as they prepare to break-ground on Park51. This unfortunate ‘community center” will have its ground-breaking on September 11, 2011. The outrage continues….
In attendance were Daisy Kahn (wife of Imam Rauf) , Sharif El-Gamal (SoHo Properties) You can click pictures to see a larger resolution of picture.
and Zead Ramadan of CAIR. (Robert Spencer has more on this Hamas-linked CAIR leader)
(However, Imam Rauf is still MIA)
Also, present were Pamela Geller of SIOA (Stop Islamization of America)It was annoying having to sit for even 5 minutes, let alone 35 minutes that the commission used to play out this charade….
And Rick Lazio (Republican candidate for Governor). Rick is also looking none-too-pleased…
But, this lovely Upper East-side type, is smugly leaving no doubt as to whose side she was on:
Someone should have told her, if you want your sign to be read, USE A BLACK MARKER!
The J-Street Dhimmi Brigade: looking gloomy….
And then, when the charade had ended, the crush of cameras inside moved outside .
The press was swarming this young woman, obviously a convert to Islam: Megan Pugney, of the Muslim Consultative Network. She is quoted as saying, “It was not real Muslims who brought down the WTC”. Also, when asked, she said she is not married. Wonder WHAT could possibly have motivated her to accept the misogyny of sharia law.
And Zead Ramadan, the Hamas-linked Cair leader, insisting he did not represent the Cordoba initiative. But that didn’t stop him from speaking FOR the Cordoba Initiative (in the minds of the gullible press). Also, swarmed by the very eager press, that he stayed til the bitter end. He did not leave until all of the press was gone.
Another Dhimmi from J-Street...”The Community of Yes”….
A few of those who supported landmark status, did get to speak to the press…but not enough….
And for some info on Bloomberg’s Puppets there follows a list of the ‘honorable’ commissioners, the LPC website and a brief description along with their pictures.
Members of the Landmarks Preservation Commission:
Hon. Robert B. Tierney, Chair
Hon. Pablo E. Vengoechea, Vice Chair
Hon. Frederick Bland
Hon. Stephen Byrns
Hon. Diana Chapin
Hon. Joan Gerner
Hon. Roberta Brandes Gratz
Hon. Christopher Moore
Hon. Margery Perlmutter
Hon. Elizabeth Ryan
Hon. Roberta Washington
http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/html/about/about_commissioners.shtml
The Landmarks Preservation Commission is composed of 11 Commissioners, and by law must include a minimum of three architects, a historian, a city planner or landscape architect, a realtor and at least one resident of each of the five boroughs. The Commissioners are appointed by the Mayor, who also designates the Chair and Vice Chair. Ten of the Commissioners receive no salary.
