San Francisco (Obama.net)- Sharif El-Gamal raised a lot of eyebrows months ago when he first announced his plans to construct an Islamic community center and mosque in New York City. The site of construction is set to be in Lower Manhattan, just blocks away from where the World Trade Center came crashing down after the 2001 terrorist attacks. Now even more people are getting uncomfortable with the situation as El-Gamal is asking for funding from a federal program intended to finance the reconstruction of the community around the center of the 9/11 attacks.
The funding has been requested from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) under the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
El-Gamal said that “Park51 (the name of his project) has applied for a Lower Manhattan Development Corporation grant,” and that the money would partly “fund social service programs such as domestic violence programs, Arabic and other foreign language classes, programs and services for homeless veterans, two multicultural art exhibits, and immigration services.”
However, the LMDC has a lot of people seeking to get funding from them. A total of 265 different groups have applied for over $175 million. Unfortunately, the program only has $17 million to distribute.
Avi Schick of the program said “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.”
History of benefiting the community in Manhattan, creating jobs, financial viability, and revitalizing the community are the factors that applicants will be evaluated on to determine if they receive a grant, which can be anywhere from $100,000 to one million dollars.
The LMDC is known for providing funding to schools, small businesses, and museums.
Based on the amount of funding and the number of applicants, it is not very likely that the reported request of $5 million for the Islamic center and mosque will be granted.
Furthermore, the decision on how to divide up the funds and who to provide with funding is not expected to be made until March of 2011.
The community center and mosque are expected to cost approximately $100 million. But, the majority of the funds have yet to be raised.
El-Gamal announced that his team “has not launched a formal fundraising program and is currently in the process of expanding its Board of Directors to place, manage, and oversee such efforts.” He said that the project should start gaining ground “in the coming weeks.”
NO WAY! Give them money to build on ground zero and heads will roll. I’m telling you this subject is a stick of dynamite drop it before it blows up in all of our faces. DO NOT repeat DO NOT give them the money to build this mosque. I think this would cause moderate, once a year church goers to join the T-party. Don’t underestimate the importance of this. The Television ran 9-11 for almost a week straight. For days it was on every single channel. The whole country was in shock. It changes my life and I live in florida and didn’t no anyone there. If this administration gives them the money I will do everything, I mean everything I can to make sure Obama does not get re-elected and that the democrats lose even more seats in the house even if that means quitting my job and moving in with my very old parents. WHATEVER IT TAKES and I am not alone!
Here we go again. I cannot believe this!!! This is a REAL good way to get this whole thing going all over again. They just will not go away. If they (meaning the insensitive Muslims) are going to insist on a mosque at ground zero then they dang well better come up with ALL of the money on their own. What IN THE WORLD ARE THEY THINKING OF TO ASK FOR A DONATION FROM THIS FUND?????? They are like nails on a chalk board in this country.