re: #39 Spare O’Lake

Since a majority (53%) of New Yorkers oppose the mosque being built in that location, what on earth is wrong with politicians like the Dem Governor trying to work out a compromise on the location, with the consent of the developers?

It’s called the First Amendment.

We do not send elected officials to try to change people’s minds about their property rights based on a popular vote.

There are good reasons for this. Neighborhood covenants about not selling to black families come to mind.

Last night, BTW, I had a long talk with my mother about the Cordoba House project. My mother is by no means starry-eyed about Muslims, but what she connected to in the story is that every synagogue in our area that has remodeled or built has met with considerable resistance, some of it, she feels, quite anti-Semitic.

Should the big reform synagogue in Berkeley have been denied building permits, or should the mayor have tried to get them to ‘compromise’ because people in the neighborhood opposed a big synagogue building project?