By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
FINANCIAL DISTRICT — Word of a 13-story mosque and community center slated to rise two blocks from the World Trade Center site has sparked strong reactions in the neighborhood and online.
Some are outraged: relatives of 9/11 victims are upset, some Islamic leaders are calling the center a mistake, and a Facebook group opposing the mosque has attracted more than 27,000 members. Others say the center would provide much-needed services to the neighborhood.
Patrick Ashley, the founder of the Facebook group, hopes the mass objections will force the Cordoba Initiative, the group behind the center, to back off.
“I don’t have any problem with them building a mosque, just not so close to the site,” said Ashley, a stay-at-home father from Rochester, N.Y.
“It’s saying, ‘We destroyed the Twin Towers and we’re planting our flag right there for the rest of the Islamic world to see.’”
Daisy Khan, executive director of the Cordoba Initiative, said the goal of the Cordoba House is to bridge the divide between the Muslim and non-Muslim world, while at the same time building a center the entire community can enjoy.
The $100 million center, named the "Cordoba House," would replace the shuttered Burlington Coat Factory building on Park Place, which was damaged on 9/11.
Khan said the Cordoba Initiative did not pick the site just because of its proximity to the World Trade Center.
“In New York City, it’s not that easy to find real estate,” she said. “This was the right kind of footprint — height, width, what we could build. We didn’t say, ‘We have to be right next to the memorial.’”
The objections to the Cordoba House could likely come to a head at Community Board 1’s next meeting May 25. The board’s Financial District Committee unanimously supported the mosque last week, and since then the board has become a target, too.
Ro Sheffe, chairman of the Financial District Committee, said the Cordoba House will be much more than a mosque — it will also offer secular events and provide the community with a much-needed theater, gym and pool.
Sheffe also pointed out that a mosque near the World Trade Center is nothing new — a smaller mosque on West Broadway about 10 blocks north of the site has been holding services since long before 9/11.
The Cordoba Initiative currently has all the rights and permissions it needs to build the mosque and community center, so even if politicians wanted to hold up the plans, there would be little they could do.
Some of downtown’s leaders, including Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and CB1 Chairwoman Julie Menin, are keeping quiet on the issue. They both say they want to hear more from the community before taking a position.
For many local residents and workers, the issue is more practical than political.
“You need something like that around here,” said Tyrone Gamble, 38, manager at Uncle Mike’s bar around the corner from the Cordoba House.
TriBeCa could use an affordable community center, “instead of all these expensive gyms,” Gamble said.
The Cordoba Initiative hopes to hold one-on-one meetings with those concerned about the project and is accepting requests at info@asmasociety.org.
