A New York City panel voted unanimously Tuesday to reject landmark status for a building near the World Trade Center site, paving the way for construction of a mosque and an Islamic community center.

Opponents of the project, including 9/11 first-responders and family members of victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, have said the location would be insensitive.

The mosque is slated to be part of an Islamic community center to be operated by a group called the Cordoba Initiative, which says the center will be a space for moderate Muslim voices.

Several members of roughly 50 people who attended the hearing applauded the ruling, while others shouted "shame" as commission chairman Robert Tierney called for the vote. The city Landmarks Preservation Commission then proceeded to vote 9-0 against granting landmark status to the site's 152-year-old building, which can now be torn down to make way for the Islamic center. 

One opponent, Linda Rivera, of Manhattan, held a sign reading, "Don't glorify murder of 3,000. No 9/11 victory mosque."

Supporters of the landmark status, including GOP gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio and some Sept. 11 family members, had argued that the building warranted landmark status because it was struck by airplane debris during the attacks.

But commissioner Christopher Moore noted that the debris struck a number of buildings in the area.

"One cannot designate hundreds of building on that criteria alone," Moore said. "We do not landmark the sky."

The commission was asked to determine whether the building is architecturally important enough to preserve, not to consider the merits of the proposed mosque. Demolition and construction of the mosque can now proceed.

The move was applauded by the New York Civil Liberties Union and the American Civil Liberties Union, citing principles of religious freedom.

"We congratulate the Landmarks Preservation Commission for promoting our nation's core values and not letting bias get in the way of the rule of law," the groups said in a joint statement. "The free exercise of religion is one of America's most fundamental freedoms. For hundreds of years,our pluralism and tolerance have sustained and strengthened our nation. On 9/11, religious extremists opposed to that very pluralism killed 3,000 Americans. Those fanatics would want nothing more than for our nation to turn its back on the very ideals that make this country so great."

Oz Sultan, the program coordinator for the proposed Islamic center, said last week that the building has been changed too much over the years to qualify as a landmark.

"I think a lot of the negativity we're getting is coming from people who are politically grandstanding," Sultan said. "We're completely open and transparent."

Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, told The Wall Street Journal in Tuesday's editions that the center's board will include members of other religions and explore including an interfaith chapel at the center.

"We want to repair the breach and be at the front and center to start the healing," said Khan, a partner in the building and the wife of the cleric leading the effort.

But Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Khan's proposals fail to address the crux of opponents' criticism that constructing the mosque near ground zero is insensitive to 9/11 victims' families.

Last week, the leading Jewish organization came out against the mosque. The ADL said "some legitimate questions have been raised" about the Cordoba Initiative's funding and possible ties with "groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values."

Rick Bell, executive director of the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects, said the building does not deserve landmark status.

"The nature of the current building isn't worth preserving," Bell said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg supported the mosque's construction, but the project has drawn opposition from former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, among others.

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"I have said before, My child, and I will repeat again: You will find the world engrossed in not only a worldly war of the flesh, but one of the spirit - a war of religion. You will all carry the banner, `Faithful and True', knowing that the ultimate victory will be with My Son." - Our Lady of the Roses, September 7, 1974

The awesome Bayside Prophecies... https://www.tldm.org/../Bayside/
These prophecies came from Jesus, Mary, and the saints to Veronica Lueken at Bayside, NY, from 1968 to 1995.

PERMITTED DUE TO ABORTION
"These interlopers upon the serenity of the United States have dark skins.... With their plans there will be bombs placed in strategic places and many shall die at the hands of these ruffians.... One big reason for permitting this disaster in New York would be the abortion mills throughout the city and the country." - Jesus, October 1, 1988  

ARSENALS
"My children, an arsenal of arms now are being gathered throughout the world. They are major instruments of destruction... It is the regime of terror that man has brought upon himself by rejecting his God." - Our Lady, February 1, 1978 

TO  DESTROY  THE  MORALE
"The enemy will come from foreign nations now to try to shed this blood. Do not take their words to you lightly. They will enter the United States for one purpose—to destroy the morale." - Our Lady, September 27, 1986  

PRAY  THE  ROSARY
"For We have great hope that the peoples of the world and the United States will say the Rosary in their homes, and also to reach out to their brothers and bring them the light in truth of the nature of God the Father in the Trinity—that is, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, also known as the Holy Ghost.
    "My child and My children, you understand it is a known fact that when the morals of a country fall, that country will be destroyed in one way or another.  Wars are always a punishment for man's sins." -Our Lady, June 18, 1992 

COMPLETE  CAPITULATION
"Your country, America the beautiful, is being prepared now for complete capitulation. Now you know, My children, and now you must act upon this knowledge, or you, too, will feel captivity and slavery and the closing of My houses throughout your country. You have blindly walked right into the trap of enslavement set upon you through devious infiltration of your government, your schools, and your medias of communication.
     "Awaken now from your slumber and seek your return from your course of destruction by getting down upon your knees and praying in heartfelt, sincere prayer to the Eternal Father, to guide you back from your present road of destruction.
     "Your countrymen have sought to silence the voice of My Mother throughout your world. You will not continue to silence the voice-boxes throughout the world, for you are sowing the seeds of your own destruction!" - Jesus, June 5, 1975 

MISSILES INTO U.S. THROUGH MEXICO
"My child, let the world know that Nicaragua is a center point for the capitulation of the United States of America and Canada. Already there are plans afoot, and in the making, with missiles and all dire instruments of destruction. These plans are being formulated from Nicaragua, to go into Mexico, and thereupon into the United States." - Our Lady, June 18, 1987