Ground Zero mosque developer in dispute with NY City over value of land, withholds property taxes

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The Ground Zero mosque developers have withheld property tax because they don't agree the land is valued at the amount assessed by the city. While this was going on and $224,000 in property taxes were in arrears, NY Mayor Bloomberg carried on an extensive media blitz, including tearfulness, on behalf of these people and how important it was they should have this land. We were scolded by Bloomberg, told we should have 'shame' for ourselves. So important was this group to him that he staged a dramatic speech on their behalf in front of the Statue of Liberty, becoming choked up while trying to make

• the issue merely about religion.

• All this time continuing through today,

basic elements were not in place for the group to develop or perhaps even maintain ownership of the land. While the Statue of Liberty was being used as a sales aid for this supposedly wonderful group, we shameful Americans were not aware that in the 1990's $2 million hard earned US tax dollars were given to Imam Rauf by our politicians. The money was supposed to be used to repair his buildings in New Jersey but repairs were never made.

• This is the kind of neighbor politicians are dying to inflict on ordinary Americans. I wonder why.

9/18, AP, "Questions about the (Ground Zero mosque) project's finances have indeed lingered. The investment partnership that owns the property, led by El-Gamal, quickly fell more than

• $224,000 behind on its property taxes this summer.

The city's finance department confirmed Friday that El-Gamal had begun resolving that debt Wednesday, turning over a check for a little more than

• $35,000 and signing on to an eight-installment payment plan to pay the rest.

El-Gamal said in a statement that the failure to pay was due to a dispute with the city over the assessed value of the property —

• an appeal that is still pending."

via Atlas Shrugs

• Reference: 8/6/10, "Mayor Bloomberg says Ground Zero Mosque opponents should be 'ashamed of themselves,'" NY Post, by D. Seifman

• 9/18/10, "Muslim summit planned over NYC Islamic Center," AP by David P. Caruso

• 9/17/10, Islamist orders assassination of American cartoonist, "There is no more Molly," WSJ.com

photo Getty