In any event, I completely agree with the whole article, which is very good. Unfortunately, demagoguery is big business in this country, at this time. The Right wing sees a big brass ring at the end of their hatred tunnel, and it will be promulgated regardless of common sense. It would take the combined voices of an informed and engaged public to shut down the garbage from Palin, Newt, et al. I don’t see that happening any time soon. Really, really sad.

What you’re talking about is St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, which was damaged when the WTC towers fell. The owners of the church have been in negotiations with the owners of the WTC/Ground Zero site — the state governments of New York and New Jersey through the Port Authority — to relocate the church. The “approval” you mentioned will come from the Port Authority, because, unlike Park 51, the Greek Church is actually “at” Ground Zero, meaning across the street from WTC site.

Park 51 does not need approval from the Ground Zero’s owners, the Port Authority, because Park 51 is not anywhere remotely near the Port Authority’s jurisdiction. Park 51, which is a block west of New York City Hall, was approved by the zoning board for the Financial District, 28 to one.

Here’s more on St. Nicholas for anyone who, unlike Kevin, is in interested in the truth:

Negotiations with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey for a land swap and public funding reached an impasse more than a year ago. The stalemate is only now generating public attention due to heated protests over Park51, a proposed Islamic community center several blocks away that’s been dubbed the “Ground Zero mosque” by critics.

“St. Nicholas has nothing to do with this mosque controversy. We believe in religious freedom, and whether the mosque should or shouldn’t be there, that’s a whole different dialogue,” said the Rev. Mark Arey, archdiocese spokesman. “But it’s a rising tide that lifts all boats. People say the mosque has been greenlighted, but why not this church?”

The entire Ground Zero rebuilding process has taken years longer than expected, due to the arduous rescue, recovery and rubble-removal efforts, followed by the bureaucratic process of establishing property ownership and designing the memorial and buildings.

By late 2008, St. Nicholas and the Port Authority had reached a tentative agreement for the church to give up its 1,200-square-foot site at 155 Cedar Street in exchange for 130 Liberty Street, a bigger site half a block away.

Six months later, the Port Authority said negotiations ended because St. Nicholas demanded too much money and approval power over a vehicle security center beneath the sites. Port Authority spokesman Stephen Sigmund said the church can return to its original location.

“In 2009, we made our final offer, which again included up to $60 million in public money, and told St. Nicholas Orthodox Church that the World Trade Center could not be delayed over this issue,” he said in a written statement. “They rejected that offer.”

Arey said negotiations were in the final stages, with the church “acting in good faith,” when the Port Authority suddenly stopped returning calls. He and other church officials think the agency changed course because the fate of the old Deutsch Bank building next to the new site — which is supposed to become Tower 5 of the rebuilt World Trade Center — became unclear after JP Morgan Chase took over Bear Stearns’ midtown offices and no longer needed a new building downtown.

“Maybe they wanted to figure out what else to do with that property,” Couloucoundis said. “The official account is that the church was too demanding. That’s completely ridiculous. We weren’t suddenly asking for $100 million or to build a church 30 stories high.”

The Deutsch Bank building is still partly standing at Liberty Street; a 2007 blaze that killed two firefighters there stalled the demolition, and the Port Authority has not released new plans for what will replace it.

The church is holding firm to the Liberty Street swap plan, and says its old site is unacceptable — it’s too close to the proposed vehicle security center’s garage doors, and St. Nicholas needs more space for the visitors to the 9/11 memorial and thousands of new residents in the neighborhood.

The new 130 Liberty Street site could accommodate a church six times bigger than the old one, which was open only twice a week and didn’t offer any children’s programs.

A three- or four-story building that meets the city’s Ground Zero security requirements will cost at least $30 million, Couloucoundis said. The church has raised about $4 million so far, with donations coming in from around the world. Concerns about sloppy book-keeping has prompted the archdiocese to step in to help oversee the funds, he added, and a forensic accountant will be hired to go over the bookkeeping.

“In the end, it’s not about the money,” Arey said. “There are people all over the world who want to see this church rebuilt. This church will be rebuilt.”

I added a photo of St. Nicholas from before the 9/11 attacks that shows its proximity (literally across the street) from the towers.

It doesn’t meant that Americans can not express their opinion.

> Finally, as noted, there is a mosque 600 yards away from the World Trade Center site, so it makes no sense to argue against building a Muslim-oriented neighborhood community center 400 yards from the site.

Exactly, and nobody making any fuss about it, because it was established here 40 years ago and has nothing to do with latest events.

> You would have trouble convincing residents of New York’s Financial District that Park 51 is “everyone’s business.” There are very few amenities for residents in the area, which tends to close up for business after 5 p.m. every day — it’s a ghost town on the weekends. You’d have even more trouble convincing the developers of the towers going up in the old WTC Plaza that it is anyone’s business but their own what they are building on the Ground Zero site.

Sorry, but may I ask you, when was the last time you visited Financial District? I agree, 13+ years ago, it looked exactly the way you described it, but not now, a lot of office buildings were converted to a rental apartment buildings, some have residential units and commercial space. Yes, it’s not a Times Square, but not a ghost town either, especially on the weekends.

BTW, you forgot to mention that the landing gear assembly of one of the planes used in the attack crashed through the roof of what was then a Burlington Coat Factory, which caused its closure.

To locals, “Ground Zero” is very specific: It is the space strictly delineated by the footprint of the World Trade Center Plaza, which is a vast space. Park 51 is well away from this area, invisible from this space, and vice versa. That’s what makes this strictly a local issue, and Americans who honor local control should respect this fact.

But I wonder if you realize that the Ground Zero site is hardly being treated as a sacred spot. There are four giant office towers being built on the graves of the 4,000 people who died there. Yes, there are sunken memorial gardens being built in the square footprints of the twin towers, but rest of the plaza area — Ground Zero — has been given over to the construction of huge monuments to corporatism and commercialism.

Finally, as noted, there is a mosque 600 yards away from the World Trade Center site, so it makes no sense to argue against building a Muslim-oriented neighborhood community center 400 yards from the site.

You would have trouble convincing residents of New York’s Financial District that Park 51 is “everyone’s business.” There are very few amenities for residents in the area, which tends to close up for business after 5 p.m. every day — it’s a ghost town on the weekends. You’d have even more trouble convincing the developers of the towers going up in the old WTC Plaza that it is anyone’s business but their own what they are building on the Ground Zero site.

In the end, I have to agree that this project should be built and the denunciations should stop. I’ll admit, however, that if the project was built directly adjacent the WTC memorial then I might feel much differently about the motives of the developer.

Last, I strongly disagree with one of your assertions. You wrote:

“This is a local issue, plain and simple. The people of New York – the ones actually attacked on 9/11 and who had to live through the aftermath – are the only ones who are affected by this. It is no one else’s business.”

This is everyone’s business. Those of us outside NYC have no say over shadow casting or material finishes for this project, but what happens at ground zero, site of a national tragedy, is the entire country’s business.

Beauty of our country is that people can still become upset over the exercise of the first amendment rights when the exercise of those rights can be seen as offensive to some.

I also wonder, why the name of the organization behind building the Islamic Cultural Center is Cordoba Initiative?
(please don’t refer me to their web site).

The Muslims who want to build this mosque are not the ones creating this chaos, people like you are.

Pray in the office or park? Have you tried praying in a park when it is raining or snowing outside? What a ridiculous thought.
If all offices in America had prayer rooms then perhaps they wouldnt need mosques but hey thats another issue that Im sure you would have a problem with too.