It’s not just the five civil suits pending against him, which Metro revealed last week.
Sharif El-Gamal, developer of Park51, the controversial mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, also has nearly 400 open violations on a building his company owns at West 151st Street, according to the New York Post.
El-Gamal also owes the city over $60,000 in unpaid fees, fines and taxes on the uptown property.
Tenants say the 14-unit building is infested with rats and cockroachs. They also told the Post that landlord El-Gamal has ignored their complaints, ranging from a bathroom ceiling collapse to a lack of heat.
The news comes on top of a claim from Con Edison that El-Gamal owes them $1.7 million in back rent for 51 Park Place, where he wants to expand the mosque and Islamic community center.
El-Gamal is due in court this Thursday for the uptown building violations. If he doesn’t show up, he reportedly risks being sent to jail.
Nearly 700 city cops will be assigned to a new command dedicated to policing the Freedom Tower and surrounding area, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday.
The World Trade Center Command will not be fully staffed until Ground Zero is completely rebuilt.
But the 673 officers that will eventually work out of the new command will give it substantially more manpower than any other NYPD precinct.
The precincts that have the largest headcounts - the Midtown South Precinct in Manhattan and the 75th Precinct in Brooklyn - each have about 400 cops.
Since the NYPD has roughly 6,000 fewer cops now than it did shortly after 9-11, a big question surrounds the new command: Where is Kelly going to get the cops to staff it?
Police brass said it is not clear how many of the 673 cops will be new hires and how many will be pulled from other assignments.
And it appears the city budget will have to absorb any additional financial impact, since - as of right now - no federal money has been earmarked for the Ground Zero cops.
As long as Mayor Mike is in the dock, let us also note that when it comes to building a mosque near Ground Zero, he has from the start stood behind the First Amendment -- sort of.
That is, he likes the part that gives Muslims the right to build a house of worship just about anywhere they want.
But the part guaranteeing a separation between religion and government?
Not so much.
That much became obvious last week with the release of e-mails demonstrating that City Hall did much more than offer the mosque's organizers routine help.
Even to the point of pressing Community Board 1 to cast an approving vote -- so that the chairman of the Landmarks Preservation Commission could be given the "political cover" he so urgently sought before his agency denied landmark status to the existing building.
That not only raises First Amendment questions -- it also provides serious doubts about the legitimacy of the LPC vote, which appears to have been dictated far more by politics than by any consideration of the building's architectural and historical merit.
All this is objectionable on its face.
But the violence it does the First Amendment takes the offense to a fundamentally higher level.
Government has no business advocating for any religion. That's the principle that chased Nativity scenes from the public square.
Leave it to Mike Bloomberg to cherry-pick one of America's founding principles.
Dozens of emails between Mayor Bloomberg’s aides and developers of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero show the mayor’s office has gone out of its way to support the controversial plan – with one of his commissioners going so far as to ghost write a letter to a community board leader on the mosque’s behalf.
In one exchange Nazli Parvizi, commissioner of the city’s Community Affairs Unit, penned a favorable letter to Community Board 1 Chairwoman Julie Menin -- thanking her for being open-minded to the project – which has drawn scrutiny nationwide for its proximity to Ground Zero.
Parvizi emailed the drafted letter to the mosque’s imam and his wife – Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan – for their permission and ended it with Daisy’s first name.
She sent along the fax number and mailing address for CB1 – which voted in favor of the project in May – and offered any further help.
The letter thanked Menin personally for “giving us an audience to share our vision of the Cordoba Center in Manhattan,” referring to the planned project.
“We are incredibly saddened by the media distortion on what this project actually is and to whom it serves,” Pavizi went on to write.
Menin, a major proponent of the development, said she never received the letter.
Bloomberg has been a vocal fan of building the project – commonly referred to as Park 51 – near Ground Zero, decrying opponents as foes of religious freedom.
His spokesman Stu Loeser today said Parvizi’s job is “to help groups navigate city government, and from helping prepare for a Papal visit to extending approval of a Sukkah in a midtown Manhattan park, this kind of assistance is typical of its regular work.”
Nazli Parvizi only helps favored groups navigate city government. When it comes to Queens, she's more likely to throw up roadblocks than help. And she makes a 6-figure taxpayer funded salary for this.
The Wall Street Journal reporter Ralph Gardner Jr. was given access to the artifacts stored at JFK Airport's Hangar 17.
From bicycles to mangled steel, a wide variety of objects damaged in the 9/11 terror attacks are being kept in the hangar before they're moved to the National September 11 Memorial and Museum.
Good Day New York spoke with Gardner on Tuesday about what he saw.
For a look at the artifacts at JFK Airport Hangar 17, CLICK HERE.
The debate over the proposed mosque and community center at Ground Zero was heating up once more Tuesday. Those opposed to the project are furious after learning the developers of Park 51 have applied for grant money, CBS 2′s Kathryn Brown reports.
“I was shocked,” said 9/11 first responder Tim Brown. “I think it’s the middle finger to the families.”
Brown said the latest move by the developers was worse than a slap in the face. Developers sought $5 million in 9/11 development grant money.
The center will include a mosque, a gym and a daycare.
On their website, developers touted the need for grant money to help fund “desperately-needed programs like domestic violence support groups, Arabic lessons and immigration services.”
The buck will stop with the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which is in charge of the money. They’ve set aside $17 million for the cultural enhancement of the area around ground zero and, so far, they’ve received nearly 300 applications from a variety of nonprofits.
One of the best comments on that New York Mosque brouhaha comes from John Podhoretz, Editor of Commentary magazine, in the October 2010 issue:
“The proposal [to construct a mosque near Ground Zero in Manhattan] has ignited a new culture war in the United States in which unusual lines have been drawn—with unabashedly secular liberals sternly admonishing religious conservatives about the transcendent importance of the freedom of religion. Suddenly, even property rights and building “as of right” have become sacrosanct to people and institutions who have opposed private projects in important locations all over New York City on the grounds that, say, they might cast a shadow at certain hours over a few hundred square feet in Central Park. And yet they feel free to express disgust at complaints about a mosque a few hundred feet from where the Twin Towers were destroyed—a building that would certainly cast a shadow over a Ground Zero memorial.”
But that’s how it goes in the land-use biz, doesn’t it? People whose hearts profess to bleed for the plight of the poor are usually in favor of the use of eminent domain for redevelopment which disposesses the poor en masse for the benefit of large corporations. They seem untroubled by the fact that the core feature of redevelopment is for the redevelopers to receive the taken land from which the poor have been evicted (and for which the public has paid top dollar), for peanuts or even free.
The building slated to become a mosque and community center near Ground Zero now hosts weekly prayer services for several hundred worshippers despite two open violations for "immediately hazardous" conditions, The Post has learned.
The safety violations -- for holes in floors and the lack of an automatic sprinkler system -- were issued by city inspectors Aug. 3 and Sept. 1, but that hasn't stopped owners of the 152-year-old building from getting temporary permits from the city to use it.
"The two violations will not impact the current temporary place-of-assembly permit, which allows the space to be occupied," said Buildings Department spokesman Tony Sclafani.
Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf must reimburse Union City, N.J. officials for costs associated with keeping an off-duty police officer on guard at one of his dilapidated apartment buildings, The Jersey Journal reported Friday.
Rauf was ordered to pay $12,960 to city authorities who were fired up after having to front the ten days¿ worth of pay earned by the officer keeping fire watch while the imam made repairs ranging from faulty fire alarms to moldy bathrooms and bedbugs.
Over 200 health and fire code violations were found in the building, and Rauf has until Oct. 9 to fix them. Union City is suing the religious leader for ignoring some 30 tenant complaints from 1996 to 2010.
The above video was posted because a Russian lady had the balls to ask Bloomberg if he can sleep at night. Love it!
Anyway, you might be wondering why we haven't really gotten into the mosque debate on the blog. It's certainly not because we are afraid of discussing controversial subjects. The real reason is because if you look past all the "freedom of religion"/"Muslims are terrorists" rhetoric, there is something more freaky going on. We were just waiting for it to all unfold and be exposed, because we knew in good time it would. Of course the media uncovers facts but then chooses to ignore them because inflammatory statements make better quotes and soundbites and they have all been hopelessly brainwashed that protest becomes evil when people they disagree with are doing it. It also feeds their deluded egos to have discussions with their like-minded colleagues about how they are superior beings because they have succeeded in being "open-minded free-thinkers" and have risen above the level of the Neanderthals opposed to this project who are unfortunately their fellow Americans.
Now, let's take a good look at the non-Muslim-centric issues surrounding this so we can understand what this is really all about.
1) The site of the proposed project was considered historic until Bloomberg said it wasn't. It had been calendared by the Landmarks Commission for more than 20 years. Calendaring of a property is generally rare, which is why the LPC usually only reserves it for properties it plans to designate. It is a phase of the process which prevents alteration or demolition until the LPC has a chance to go through the final motions of designating the building as an official landmark. Because the LPC is so short-staffed, many calendared buildings are put on the back burner for many years. It was only when Bloomberg called Robert Tierney to take it off the list in order to advance this project that the LPC cleared its calendar and held a hearing and - unanimously - found that it had "no architectural value". (Yes, it had NO architectural value, which is why it was put on the list to begin with...) So all the B.S. that you've heard from Bloomberg and Tierney over the years about the LPC being an autonomous body and that despite the fact that the mayor appoints all the members of the board, he doesn't interfere with the body's functioning, is pure bullshit. Note how Bloomberg already had a lengthy speech prepared just a short while after the vote, along with a planned photo op featuring a diverse collection of religious leaders...
And think about this...who purchases a calendared building with the intent to tear it down? No one. Not unless they have secured the assurance of the City government that the designation will fail. And yes, designation would have prevented the "mosque" from being built (Hey Bloomie, we thought it wasn't a mosque?), because the owners have said the demolition of the buildings is necessary in order for the project to proceed. And the City had every right to designate the buildings, as they have for countless other religious structures. The City's right to do so was held up by the Supreme Court long ago.
2) This is really about milking this property for all it's worth. The owners mysteriously purchased the site at a bargain basement price and already are hinting at flipping it for an inflated value.
3) It has been revealed that the imam is a slumlord, the developer is behind on his tax payments and owes lots of money on building fines. Yet it has also been reported that as a 501C3 organization, they will seek City financing for this project. The slumlord/tax deadbeat/building scofflaw status of the main players would likely automatically disqualify them from such funding if they were building anything other than this. Yet it is matter-of-factly being reported that John Liu will sign off on the funding. That's right, once again, we'll be the suckers who end up paying for it.
So we have the government bending over backwards to get a religious structure built at a controversial site despite the overwhelming public sentiment against it. Do you also smell tweeding?
Quite frankly, just considering #3 alone makes us wonder why anyone would protest on these folks' behalf or defend their "right" to build, let alone someone counting on getting re-elected. Obviously, the lame-brained politicians that represent this City think they can hide from scrutiny about their role in this project if they wrap themselves in the flag and the Constitution. And judging by the reaction we see from the media, they will probably get away with it.
In a letter to Hisham Elzanaty, Park51's Egyptian-born investor, Donald Trump is offering to purchase the ground-zero mosque site for the price that Elzanaty initially paid, plus 25 percent.
I am making this offer as a resident of New York and a citizen of the United States, not because I think the location is a spectacular one (because it is not), but because it will end a very serious, inflammatory, and highly divisive issue that is destined, in my opinion, to only get worse.
Since this is looking more and more like a real estate deal, and more and more dirt is being unearthed about the owners, they should take it and put the issue to rest. Especially since this isn't a mosque and has nothing to do with "freedom of religion"...
A controversial plan to build a $100 million mosque and community center just two blocks north of Ground Zero could be undone by history.
The 152-year-old building at 45 Park Place that would be torn down for the mosque is under the protection of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which has had a pending application on its books since 1989 to grant it landmark status.
A Landmarks spokeswoman said that the application had been on hold for more than two decades but that a hearing would be scheduled and a vote would follow on the designation.
The landmarking issue is a potentially big obstacle for a project that both the city and the mosque's backers had said could be built "as of right," with no interference from city land use laws.
If the commission approves landmark designation, it would be highly unlikely that the building could be torn down to make way for Cordoba House, a proposed 13-story mosque and community center.
And until a vote is taken, the building has temporary landmark protection.
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday continued to support the project, despite the latest wrinkle.
For the second time in three months, and the fourth time in a year and a half, the anticipated contract for the Related Companies to develop the 26-acre West Side rail yards has been delayed. Related and the M.T.A., which owns the rail yards near the Javits Center and initially granted Related the development rights in May 2008, have agreed to extend by one month a March 31 deadline for signing the contract to develop the site. An M.T.A. spokesman confirmed the extension.
Multiple people familiar with the discussions said that the process of readying the legal documents has dragged on, taking longer than expected.
The news on Thursday that the Port Authority and the developer Larry A. Silverstein had ceased hostilities and come to a tentative agreement at ground zero was greeted with a great deal of fanfare. But judging from a blistering note the next morning from the Port Authority’s vice chairman, the next 120 days are going to be anything but peaceful.
The vice chairman, Henry R. Silverman, said in an e-mail message that the final deal allowing Mr. Silverstein to build two skyscrapers at ground zero with up to $1.6 billion in public subsidies cannot leave the developer flush with cash and the authority at financial risk.
“The notion that a private developer and/or his investors profit while the public sector is at risk for billions of dollars is unacceptable,” he wrote to the authority’s executive director, Christopher O. Ward, and eight fellow commissioners.
Only 17 hours earlier, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Gov. David A. Paterson and various labor leaders lauded the announcement that the two sides would spend the next three months putting their rough outline of a deal into formal documents.
But clearly the commissioners are worried. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is already building 1 World Trade Center, a $3 billion tower at the northwest corner of the site, which also needs tenants, as well as a $3.2 billion transit center and the national memorial.
All this attention to big projects comes at a price, though.
Some of the price comes out of your pocket - water and sewer rates have skyrocketed under Bloomberg, and the city's construction debt is higher than ever before.
Some of the price comes in the changed character of a city marked by giant footprints - neighborhood haunts like Freddy's Bar and some apartment buildings replaced by a new Brooklyn arena.
And some of the price comes in opportunities lost, inattention to detail, small problems that could have been fixed before they became big ones.
While billionaires fought over what to build at Ground Zero, two firefighters lost their lives in the former Deutsche Bank building in a scandalous breakdown of administration.
Bloomberg brags about installing GPS monitors and credit card readers in taxis, but nobody bothered to program them so they couldn't rip off $8.3 million in excess fares.
The man who made his billions on technology admitted Friday that he should have paid more attention to the CityTime technology program, which will eventually computerize city workers' time sheets but is hundreds of millions of dollars over budget.
History doesn't worry much about a few hundred million extra here and there. It's the taxpayers' job to look at the price tag.
NEW YORK (AP) -- Eight people linked to the Colombo organized crime family have been charged in a federal case involving bribery and extortion at the World Trade Center site.
An indictment unsealed Tuesday in Brooklyn alleges that a mob-controlled trucking company paid kickbacks to win a subcontract with a demolition company working at ground zero. Prosecutors also say the defendants threatened employees with the demolition company when it failed to pay on time.
Wiretaps captured one defendant saying the employees were "shakin' in their boots over us."
Authorities say the case is part of an aggressive campaign to bring down the Colombos. In 2007, former acting boss Alphonse Persico Jr. was convicted of murder in aid of racketeering.
Nearly a decade ago, Liliana Sanchez stood knee-deep in dust at an office building near Ground Zero, vacuuming for $60 a day with only a paper mask to protect her.
These days, the undocumented Colombian immigrant struggles to breathe while climbing a flight of subway stairs and worried about the future of her medical care.
"They called us heroes while we were working and we also felt like heroes. Now they have pushed us aside," said the 40-year-old from Medellin.
Sanchez will join 200 other undocumented 9/11 cleanup workers Tuesday at a rally to push for continued health coverage and legal immigration status.
Most of their compensation suits they have filed are pending, and they feel stuck in limo while health-care and immigration changes are on the horizon.
Not sure if "limo" was a typo or a Freudian slip. Not sure who was calling illegals "heroes" at the time for vacuuming up dust. I thought that term was reserved for the Americans who died trying to save others or were pulling people out of the rubble.
An iconic 79-story skyscraper long planned for Ground Zero that would have been taller than the Empire State Building appears to be dead.
Developer Larry Silverstein has proposed a new financing scheme for the troubled site that discards the 1,270-foot Tower 2, sources familiar with the project say. In the past two weeks, he has come under intense pressure from Gov. Paterson to resolve his bitter war with the Port Authority.
Acting after Silverstein was slapped down last month in his bid to snag $3.5 billion in penalties from the PA because of building delays, Paterson urged him to throw more cash into the project and scale back his demands.
Silverstein agreed and is offering to put as much as $250 million into his two remaining Church St. buildings - $175 million more than his last offer - and add $560 million from insurance and Liberty Bonds as well. To further reduce costs, he said he would push ahead with the 71story, 1,137-foot Tower 3 - but dump Tower 2, a projected 2.3 million-square-foot building designed by star architect Lord Norman Foster.
The city will soon transport six to seven truckloads of possible World Trade Center remains for hand sifting at the shuttered Fresh Kills landfill, Borough President James Molinaro said today.
Molinaro said he was notified by city Sanitation officials last week of the transfer in the coming weeks of some 844 cubic yards of material from a sub-basement of one of the towers. He said he was not told which one.
In a memo obtained by the Advance today, authored by Deputy Mayor of Operations Edward Skyler, Skyler said the material “was excavated over the past two years from the following areas in and around the WTC site: NY State Route 9A (West Street); the Haul Road; Cedar Street; Washington Street; Vesey Street; the rooftop of Fiterman Hall, and various subterranean structures.”
The hand-sifting for human remains will begin in April and be completed in early July, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME), which will oversee the operation at a cost of $1.4 million.
The Skyler memo says the OCME will “utilize its forensic mobile sifting platform” at Fresh Kills.
“Anthropologists and other trained professionals will carefully evaluate and search the estimated 844 cy of material gathered since December 2007 for any potential remains,” the memo says. “Any potential remains recovered will proceed to OCME laboratories for further testing.”
An estimated 1,123 victims who were slaughtered by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001 have not had their remains identified.
The Obama administration stunned New York's delegation Thursday, dropping the bombshell news that it does not support funding the 9/11 health bill.
The state's two senators and 14 House members met with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius just hours before President Obama implored in his speech to the nation for Congress to come together and deliver a government that delivers on its promises to the American people.
So the legislators were floored to learn the Democratic administration does not want to deliver for the tens of thousands of people who sacrificed after 9/11, and the untold numbers now getting sick.
The 9/11 bill would spend about $11 billion over 30 years to care for the growing numbers of people getting sick from their service at Ground Zero, and to compensate families for their losses.
The legislators were shocked the idea was falling lower on the administration priority list than other parts of the war on terror and financial bailouts.
The White House suddenly boosted funding for ailing 9/11 responders yesterday - pumping more government money into the treatment program than ever before.
Team Obama ponied up the cash only after outraging New York lawmakers with the news the administration won't back a permanent plan to help the dying Ground Zero responders.
The White House confirmed it will more than double the budget for treating ill responders to $150 million in 2011.
The abrupt reversal came after the Daily News revealed New York lawmakers were shocked Wednesday when Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said the administration does not support an $11 billion permanent treatment plan.
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From Metro:
