Islamic center near Sept. 11 ‘ground zero’ clears hurdle

With the Statue of Liberty at his back and religious leaders at his side, New York Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg praised a city commission’s decision Tuesday that cleared the way for an Islamic community center to be built two blocks north of the former World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan.

Opponents of the center, who say they will sue to block it, had tried to get the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission to preserve the 152-year-old building on the site because it had been showered with airplane debris during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The commissioners rejected that argument and voted unanimously against granting landmark status.

Bloomberg acknowledged the weeks of wrenching debate leading up to the commission’s vote, but said it was important to stand by the American ideal that government does not have the authority to deny its citizens, of any religion, a place to worship.

“Political controversies come and go, but our values and our traditions endure — and there is no neighborhood in this city that is off-limits to God’s love and mercy,” said Bloomberg, who strongly endorsed the project from the beginning.

Even though the 15-story center will house a prayer space for Muslims, the developer has downplayed its ties to any one religion, explaining that its interfaith programming would be modeled after the popular 92nd Street Y on the Upper East Side and the sprawling Jewish Community Center on the Upper West Side.

After the commission vote, Daisy Khan, a founder of the center, thanked the members by invoking John Lennon, saying, “Let’s give peace a chance.”

Opponents have questioned the interfaith intentions of the Muslim leaders who will run the center and demanded they prove that the people funding the construction have no ties to terrorist organizations.

Of primary concern has also been insensitivity toward the families of Sept. 11 victims by locating a Muslim facility so close to where Islamic terrorists caused the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.

“It’s caused enormous grief and enormous pain,” said Pamela Goeller, an advocate for the families.

Among those opposing the center are former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio; and, just this week, the Anti-Defamation League.

In a Twitter message last month, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin called the center an “unnecessary provocation” that “stabs the heart.”

geraldine.baum@latimes.com