By Jennifer Glickel
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
DOWNTOWN — Gov. David Paterson and Archbishop Timothy Dolan will meet on Tuesday to discuss quelling the frenzy over the planned mosque near Ground Zero, according to reports.
Both officials support the idea of moving the proposed site of the mosque farther from the former World Trade Center site, but Tuesday’s meeting at the governor’s Manhattan office will be about calming the fiery controversy over the mosque, rather than choosing a new location, the New York Daily News reported.
"They both want to help ease the tensions,” the News quoted a source as saying. “The governor has said his primary goal in all of this is to bring people together on the issue."
New York Archdiocese spokeswoman Kate Monaghan said the meeting was Paterson's idea and that there is "no specific agenda" on the table.
"The governor called and asked him and he's happy to accept," she said.
Paterson spokesman Morgan Hook did not lay out in detail what the two will go over in the meeting, but confirmed that they will discuss the firestorm surrounding the mosque.
Many Republicans have taken issue with the location of the proposed mosque, saying that building it so close to the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks that it is disrespectful to the victims and their families.
The project’s co-founder, Daisy Khan, has not commented on whether organizers will consider moving the site of the mosque.
"We first want to meet with all the stakeholders [in the project] who matter. ... We will meet, and we will do what is right for everyone," she told ABC's "This Week" Sunday.
