GROUND ZERO MOSQUE APPLIED FOR 9/11 GRANT MONEY

Look for the controversial Ground Zero mosque to be back in the news soon with this news. Just when you thought those behind the construction of the mosque had used up their entire quota of gall, they turned on their reserve tank. As a consequence of 9/11, federal grant money was made available for the redevelopment of lower Manhattan. Now it has been learned that the Cordoba Initiative actually applied for $5 million of that grant money just last month.

Via the Daily Beast:

The audacious move stands to reignite the embers of a divisive debate that dominated headlines surrounding the ninth anniversary of the attacks this fall, say people vested in the issue.

The application was submitted under a “community and cultural enhancement” grant program administered by the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation (LMDC), which oversaw the $20 billion in federal aid allocated in the wake of 9/11 and is currently doling out millions in remaining taxpayer funds for community development. The redevelopment board declined to comment on the application (as did officials from Park51), citing the continuing and confidential process of determining the grant winners.

While news of the application has not previously been made public, developer Sharif El-Gamal outlined it in closed-door meetings, according to two individuals he spoke with directly. The thirtysomething, Brooklyn-born El-Gamal is motivated more by real estate ambition—one of these sources describes him as aspiring to be the next Donald Trump—than Islamic theology or ideology.

That last sentence is a joke. El-Gamal is more than just a little on-board with the furtherance of Islam in America. More on why HERE, HERE, and HERE.