re: #253 thelacritic

I’m not implying these two are doing anything illegal. But if in fact this is a community center for New York Muslims is this money
being funded by New Yorkers? So yes, I’m not ignoring the fact that some may see this “community center” as something more than a place for new stork Muslims to recreate. I haven’t made up my mind on the efficacy of this community center and an tryin to look at all the facts available.

And I do note the sensitivity here. But sensitivity has two meanings. One, the proclivity to take offense, and the other the courtesy to avoid giving offense. If one is going to fault others for an excess of the former, it is usually not right to do so in a way that shows one’s own deficiency of the latter.

Here’s the thing:

You say you haven’t made up your mind on the efficacy of this community center.

But in the first place, unless you have money invested in this project, the efficacy of it is something you need not be concerned about in any way.

In the second place, all of your questions are coming across as if you HAVE made a decision whether or not this project should be opposed, and the types of questions you’re asking are those asked by people who are opposed to it.

So I sort of think you’ve made up your mind, even though you say otherwise.
Now, as to this:

And if it’s coming from elsewhere and it’s an extraordinary amount of money, what is the sales pitch? Why is better to spend $100 million here for a 13 story building when you maybe could build 100 mosques or community centers throughout the US.

That’s a very large sum of money to me, and maybe to you. It is not a large sum of money to spend in NYC on a project such as this one. So it doesn’t appear that an “extraordinary” amount of money is being spent here, rather, what’s being spent is what one might expect to have to spend in NYC on this sort of project.

And as to whether it’s better to spend it here or there or wherever - when the Catholic Church builds a church and a school, do you ask the Church to justify spending it here instead of there? If not, why are you asking this question about this project?