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The 3 mosque-teers
Last Updated: 11:14 AM, October 29, 2010
Posted: 2:35 AM, October 29, 2010



So what exactly is their, um, "Game"?

Mayor Bloomberg and Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam behind the hugely controversial Ground Zero mosque, were all smiles last night as they posed with lefty blogger Arianna Huffington, who anointed them both "Game Changers."

They were among the guests Huffington hosted at the Skylight Studio in SoHo at her party honoring "100 innovators, visionaries and leaders."

If one picture is worth a thousand words, this one -- the first of the three of them together -- raises at least as many questions.

Reporters were kept far away from the guests, so no one knows what Bloomberg, the imam and the blogger may have whispered about.

But the mayor has long been one of the biggest supporters of the imam's mosque, despite the fact that a great many of his constituents -- and the vast majority of the nation -- are vehemently opposed, and there's no evidence to think that either he or Rauf changed their games when it came to that. Bloomberg did not mention the mosque in his speech, his reps said. He was invited to speak about gun control -- and that's all he talked about in his public presentation.

But at an event at Gracie Mansion for Muslim leaders last summer, Bloomberg declared, "If we say that a mosque and community center should not be built near the World Trade Center site, we would compromise our commitment to fighting terror with freedom.

"Islam did not attack the World Trade Center -- al Qaeda did."

And Rauf certainly has not changed his tune. Only hours before the event last night, he rejected the advice of influential Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who suggested he build the mosque at a site not associated with the "wound" of 9/11..........................>>>>.................>>>>..............http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/the_mosque_teers_nDWSD8obuDkDyIrBkEo79M

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New York (CNN) -- The developer behind the controversial Islamic community center and mosque planned for Lower Manhattan has requested federal funding through the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation to support the project known as Park51.

The funding would come from money the Department of Housing and Urban Development allocated to help rebuild the neighborhood after the 9/11 attacks.

"Park51 has applied for a Lower Manhattan Development Corporation grant," said Sharif El-Gamal, CEO of SOHO Properties, the developer behind the Islamic center. In a statement, El-Gamal said the money would "in part fund social service programs such as domestic violence programs, Arabic and other foreign language classes, programs and services for homeless veterans, two multi-cultural art exhibits and immigration services."

The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation received more than 265 applications seeking more than $175 million for community and cultural programs, though the LMDC has only $17 million of federal funding to allocate.

"We are now turning to the challenging but important task of sorting through the applications to identify those that address long-standing community and cultural needs," said Avi Schick, chairman of LMDC.

The grants will range from $100,000 to $1 million, according to Julie Menin, chair of Community Board 1 and a member of the LMDC board. Among the criteria used to judge applications, Menin said, are financial viability, job creation, revitalizing the community and a track record of service in Lower Manhattan.

"We have funded museums, public schools, programs to help small businesses hurt after 9/11," said Menin.

An online report said Park51 had requested $5 million, but neither the developer nor LMDC board members would confirm that amount.

The LMDC plans to decide how to allocate the $17 million "towards the end of the first quarter of next year," said Menin.

Park51 has yet to raise significant funds for the community center located two blocks north of Ground Zero, a project that could cost $100-million.

"Park51 has not launched a formal fundraising program and is currently in the process of expanding its Board of Directors to plan, manage and oversee such efforts," said El-Gamal, adding that the project has not yet applied for federal tax-exempt status, but plans to do so "in the coming weeks."

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Ground Zero mosque developers apply for federal grant: report
POST STAFF REPORT
Last Updated: 2:19 PM, November 22, 2010
Posted: 1:01 PM, November 22, 2010

The developers behind the proposed Ground Zero mosque have applied for about $5 million in federal grant money set aside for redeveloping downtown Manhattan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a new report.

The application was submitted as a "community and cultural enhancement" grant, which is a program run by the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp.

Developer Sharif El-Gamal discussed the grant proposal in recent closed-door meetings, according to The Daily Beast.

The revelation that the developers have asked for this grant could reignite outrage about the mosque's proposed location.

"If Imam Feisal and his retinue want know why they're not trusted, here's yet another reason,” Irshad Manji, author of "The Trouble with Islam" and director of the Moral Courage Project at NYU, told The Daily Beast. “The New Yorkers I speak with have questions about Park51. Requesting money from public coffers without engaging the public shows a staggering lack of empathy—especially from a man who says he's all about dialogue."...................>>>>...............>>>>..........http://www.nypost.com/p/news/l.....kK3aUDQGaiL45Xcf31VM

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Saudi king may want to move Ground Zero mosque to St. Vincent's site
By BRAD HAMILTON and JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN
Last Updated: 2:32 PM, December 19, 2010
Posted: 2:39 AM, December 19, 2010

A Manhattan lawyer with ties to the Saudi royal family is sounding out officials and community leaders about a plan to move the controversial Ground Zero mosque to the West Village.

Attorney Dudley Gaffin is claiming King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia might want to buy shuttered St. Vincent's Medical Center and transfer the mosque to a new Islamic cultural center he would build on a plot at the site, say sources who have heard Gaffin's pitch.

The king, worth more than $20 billion, would also save the hospital, reopening most of the units that closed when St. Vincent's filed for bankruptcy on April 14, the sources said.

They say that Gaffin, who heads his own firm in lower Manhattan, is floating the idea to gauge what the reaction might be -- and to ready a bid to rival the Rudin Organization, which is trying to snap up St. Vincent's in bankruptcy court with an eye on tearing down six hospital buildings for luxury housing.

"He's asking what it would take to put in a bid," said one community leader who did not want to be identified.

"He says the king wants to do this as a p.r. move -- to save the hospital and move the mosque away from the World Trade Center site," the source added. "He wants to show that Muslims can do good works."

"[Gaffin is] talking about the Saudis," said another source, a politically connected lawyer. "I don't know if any conversations have taken place [with them]."

The cost would be at least $300 million -- the combined amount that the Sisters of Charity, which owns the hospital, owes the biggest secured creditors, GE Capital and TD bank....................>>>>....................>>>>....................http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/manhattan/st_vinny_eyed_as_gz_mosque_home_Jp1QLUjibZAqlpFJmU0exI