By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
LOWER EAST SIDE — Community Board 3 waded into the Ground Zero mosque debate Tuesday by narrowly passing a resolution showing support for their colleagues in lower Manhattan.
Citing the “threats to the their personal safety” Community Board 1 members have received since voting to approve the construction of a Muslim religious center near the World Trade Center site, Board 3 decided to stand united with their neighboring board by supporting its work on the issue and decrying the attacks aimed at CB 1 since voting in favor of the proposal.
However, some Board 3 members felt uneasy that the body covering the East Village, Lower East Side and Chinatown should take an official stance on the highly charged matter, which lies outside its jurisdiction.
“I just don’t know if there’s a reason to weigh in on this,” said former CB 3 chairman David McWater, who voted against the resolution that passed by just three votes. “It’s a very controversial issue, and it’s been decided at home.”
He and others on the board specifically took issue with language in the resolution condemning the aggression against mosque supporters, arguing that it’s not Board 3’s place to vote on other people’s sensitivities.
“I don’t know if it’s our position to say you’re all horrible, hateful people,” said McWater, noting he spoke to Board 1 chairwoman Julie Menin earlier in the evening before her body voted against a plan to landmark the building slated to house the 13-story mosque.
“I understand how people are still upset [about the mosque],” he added.
The controversial passage in CB 3's resolution referenced “the anti-Muslim vitriol that filled most opponents’ speeches and prompted supporters who live in the community as well as volunteers for the Board to be called ‘murderers,’ despite their residential proximity to Ground Zero and the obvious fact that they were victims on that horrible day.”
Some board members felt that painting all the mosque's opponents as misguided in the resolution, as well as voting on concerns outside the district, would risk drawing undue attention to the board.
However, district manager Susan Stetzer said the threats have already begun to bleed over into Board 3.
“We’ve been getting hate mail at the board office," she said of mosque opponents blindly targeting community boards in general. "It’s twisted and it’s sick."
The resolution is simply “supporting [Board 1’s] courage,” Stetzer added.
CB 3 member David Adams asked that the group behind the $100 million religious center find some way to commemorate the 9/11 attacks and wondered if the mosque could be more sensitive to people’s concerns.
“If they don’t show distancing of themselves [from the perpetrators] at that location, it could be really painful,” he said.
The board ultimately decided to vote on the resolution as is, including the contentious passage, after adjusting some wording to reflect that CB 3 supported Board 1’s “process to evaluate” the mosque proposal, not Board 1’s actual approval on the project.
“I don’t know if we helped them tonight,” McWater said after the meeting. “Having another actor jump into the fray, I just don’t know.”
