Developers of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero aren’t biting on Gov. Paterson’s offer to find a new site for the controversial project, the governor said yesterday.
“I think that they would like to stay where they are,” the governor said, one day after offering public land for the proposed site, which has sparked a national outcry for its proximity to the World Trade Center.
“I certainly respect that and I certainly respect them. How much more foresighted would it have been if the imam who is the developer of the project had been willing to hear what we actually were talking about?” Paterson asked.
He said most opponents of the mosque are not trying to trample on religious freedoms, but have an emotional reaction over being “badgered over the last decade” by the woes that followed Sept. 11.
Mosque representatives did not respond to requests for comment.