By Julie Shapiro
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
LOWER MANHATTAN — One of the leaders of the Park51 mosque and community center is open to moving the project to a less controversial site, according to a report.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who recently traveled to upstate New York to promote Park51 and interfaith initiatives, told the Buffalo News that he was not adamant that the 13-story center be built two blocks from Ground Zero, as planned.
"If someone is willing to offer another site ... I would move," Rauf said, according to the Buffalo News. "I would move because my whole life is about improving relationships with people, and once the project is established, it will have an impact."
Park51 did not respond to requests for comment, but the organization posted a note on its Facebook page Monday clarifying the organization's board of directors structure. Rauf is one of four members of the board of directors and, therefore, a leader of the project.
However, Park51 said in a press release earlier in January that Rauf's comments on his tour would not represent official Park51 positions. The same press release announced that Rauf would no longer be the spiritual leader of the center, but would remain on the board.
Rauf told the Buffalo News that he had had disagreements about Park51 with another one of the directors, real estate investor Sharif El-Gamal. Rauf wanted to build an interfaith center, while El-Gamal wanted to build an Islamic one, Rauf said.
Rauf said he would also consider building a separate interfaith center elsewhere, if he parted ways with Park51 and the project went forward on the current site without him. It would just be a matter of finding a site that was at least as good as the current one, which Rauf has not been able to do, he said.
Rauf said his disagreements with El-Gamal were part of what motivated him to consider another site.
