{"id":222,"date":"2010-08-04T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-08-04T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beliefbeat\/2010\/08\/nyc-denies-landmark-status-to-ground-zero-building-slated-for-islamic-center.html"},"modified":"2010-08-04T08:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-08-04T08:00:00","slug":"nyc-denies-landmark-status-to-ground-zero-building-slated-for-islamic-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/08\/nyc-denies-landmark-status-to-ground-zero-building-slated-for-islamic-center.html","title":{"rendered":"Mayor Bloomberg Welcomes Muslims, as NYC Denies Landmark Status to ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ Site"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a unanimous vote and with Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s blessing<\/a>, New York City’s landmarks commission has withheld historic protection from the downtown building slated to become Park51, a kind of Muslim-based YMCA. (Recently rebranded from its Cordoba House name, but still better known as the “Ground Zero Mosque,” though the 13-story building is two blocks north of Ground Zero — only two blocks closer than an existing mosque in the neighborhood <\/a>— and will apparently offer more athletic facilities than prayer spaces.)<\/p>\n

Here’s a photo I took last month of retired NYC firefighter Tim Brown<\/a>, who plans to sue to try to stop the project<\/a>, in front of the site, formerly a Burlington Coat Factory. (Even without the 9\/11 damage, it looks out of place in gentrifying lower Manhattan today.)<\/p>\n

\n\"ground<\/span>Some links to the coverage:<\/p>\n