The proposed site of a new mosque in New York City, 2 blocks from the World Trade Center

Family members of those who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center are understandably upset at a proposal to build a 13-story mosque and cultural center within a stone’s throw of Ground Zero. While most media organizations have been slow to pick up the hot potato, the idea of a mosque towering over residents of New York so close to the big hole where the twin towers once stood has to be infuriating more than just New Yorkers.

It would be one thing if the city of New York had built that much-vaunted memorial for the victims of September 11, nearly a decade after the attacks. But the fact is that progress on that file has been slower than the attempt to catch the guy who is believed to have orchestrated the attacks themselves.

Although the religion of Islam itself is not an organization in which the actions of the few speak for the thoughts of the many, one can’t escape the fact that it was radicalized Muslims inspired by hatred for America that resulted in the pile of rubble in Lower Manhatten. And although the country has had 9 long years to build a fitting tribute to the victims of that day, the only thing surrounding the site of ground zero is plywood hoarding.

Still just a hole at Ground Zero

Think about this for a moment. In March 1965, the New York Port Authority began acquiring property at the World Trade Center site, and later that month the city had thirteen square city blocks demolished to make way for construction. Groundbreaking took place on August 5 of 1966. The building of the North Tower didn’t begin until two years later, and the South Tower wasn’t started until January of 1969.

The topping out ceremony of the first building took place in December of 1970, while the second tower had their party in July of 1971. Although tenants already moved into the buildings in late 1970 to 1972, the official ribbon cutting took place on April 4, 1973.

From groundbreaking to ribbon-cutting, it took 6 years and 8 months to build two towers at 110 stories tall with 930,000 cubic metres [10 million square feet] of office space. But they can’t get a memorial built in 9 years.

“This is a place which is 600 feet from where almost 3,000 people were torn to pieces by Islamic extremists,” said Debra Burlingame, whose brother died in the Pentagon on 9/11.

“I think that it is incredibly insensitive and audacious really for them to build a mosque, not only on that site, but to do it specifically so that they could be in proximity to where that atrocity happened.”

The mosque is planned on the site of a four-story building that was the Burlington Coat Factory retail store until 9/11, when part of the plane’s landing gear crashed through the roof. The building already serves as a mosque, but the tenants want to raze it and build a brand new 13-story mosque and cultural centre. While the site of the World Trade Center cannot be seen from the proposed mosque, it is only two blocks away.

Although the mayor’s office says it’s fine with the proposal, one wonders how Saudi Arabia would feel if New Yorkers built a giant church across from the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. Of course that’s not quite a fair comparison, since Mecca is actually the only city in the world in which non-Muslims are forbidden from entering under punishment of death.

Not only is the proximity of the mosque a rather sensitive issue, the perception of an expansionist Islam probably won’t sit well with a number of people. Although the developers of the mosque insist the mosque would be a means of bridging the pain felt by residents of New York by opening the community centre up to all people, it begs the question of why it needs to be a mosque, instead of a multi-faith community centre.

One would hope that the city can get its act together and focus on building a fitting memorial for the victims of Islamic extremism, rather than concern themselves zoning approval for a 13-story mosque.