By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
MANHATTAN — New Yorkers are being encouraged to weigh in on the Ground Zero mosque controversy by scribbling their opinions on posters that have popped up downtown since Sept. 11.
The posters, plastered to streetlights, newspaper boxes and fences, provide an opportunity for passersby to express in writing why they either support or oppose the project, known as Park51.
They were created by Concerned New Yorkers, a group of three artists and friends who decided to take the debate surrounding the mosque to the city's streets as a type of socially conscious art project.
"The point of the project was to provide this forum for people to talk somewhat intelligently and personally without people shouting at each other," said Adam Wissing, 26, a New York University graduate.
Wissing, joined by friends Kenny Komer, 25, and Boris Rasin, 28 — who attended the Upper West Side's LaGuardia High school together and later the Cooper Union — pasted approximately 1,500 of the posters around lower Manhattan up to 14th Street.
"We want to make something positive, we don't just want to make something snarky," he said, adding that he thought the issue had been exploited for political purposes, muddying the dialogue.
"We can contribute something by helping people talk to each other rather than just forcing people to listen to what we think."
The trio started putting the posters up on Sept. 11 as dueling protests over the proposed mosque raged near Ground Zero, and the group has been documenting people's responses by photographing the fliers and posting them to their website.
The group has previously tried their hand at similar public art projects, including a satirical mayoral campaign for "The Simpson's" character Monty Burns that took veiled shots at billionaire Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
All three of the artists support the Park51 project, but believed that there had to be space for a rational debate of both sides of the issue.
That's why the posters feature two separate columns saying "The Ground Zero Mosque should not be built because:" and "The Islamic Community Center should be built because:" followed by space to write.
Still, the artists were worried that the posters would be overrun with anti-Islamic comments and negative rhetoric that has colored much of the mosque debate.
"I think we were really positively surprised," Wissing said. "The pro side is so much larger than the con side."
At the corner of East 14th Street and Avenue A, the posters have already drawn numerous responses.
"Please build it a little farther away from our national shrine," reads one anonymous opinion. "America celebrates all religions."
A note supporting the mosque in the adjacent column, however, argues that the 9/11 perpetrators were no more Muslim than extremist religious leader David Koresh was Christian.
"You are not Christian, Muslim or Jewish because you say so, but because you act so," the note continues. "Condemn the terrorist animals, not the religion they hide behind."
