The people who own a parcel of land are going to be allowed to build what they want on it , and the Wall Street Journal is outraged. Dorothy Rabinowitz writes :
In the plan for an Islamic center and mosque some 15 stories high to be built near Ground Zero, the full force of politically correct piety is on display along with the usual unyielding assault on all dissenters.
The enthusiasm for people’s right to dissent against development now has expanded beyond worries about a building’s location into architectural criticism: “some 15 stories high”? What does Dorothy Rabinowitz deem an acceptable height for a building in Lower Manhattan? (This one would be 90 stories shorter than the One World Trade Center project that’s going up such an offensively short distance away.) They’re a regular zoning board over there at the Journal.
Meanwhile, the New York Times editorial board is happy about the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s decision not to block the Islamic center:
So it was inspiring when New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9 to 0 on Tuesday to reaffirm one of the basic tenets of democracy: religious tolerance.
Is that what the commission voted for? I thought it voted for letting somebody knock down an old building, because the old building wasn’t worth saving. Maybe the good-government supporters at the Times can explain where the commission’s charter tells it to vote one way or another on religious issues.
