Build the Muslim Center near NYC's City Hall!

In the Netherlands, the negotiations among the three political parties that won the most votes in the recent elections for the Netherlands Parliament have been in the news ever since before we arrived here six weeks ago. One of the three parties is the PVV, the party of Geert Wilders, an avowed anti-Islam advocate. As we have read the limited news available in English, we are amazed that in the Netherlands, a country known for tolerance and openness, such large numbers of voters supported this frankly, perhaps aggressively, anti-Islam party.

Then, we became aware that a great, divisive and contentious debate is raging in the USA that has strong elements of Anti-Islam emotions because of a proposal to build a Muslim Center in Lower Manhattan, a few blocks from City Hall....and Ground Zero. Actually, the nearness to Ground Zero is the real source of the contention. No one is concerned about the proximity to City Hall.
So far, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, President Obama, Fareed Zakaria, and Lexington of The Economist have made strong statements supporting the right to build the Muslim Center. According to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the spokesperson for the project,

"The whole point of the proposed Muslim center blocks from the World Trade Center is to heal wounds, not open them. The project has been mischaracterized, so I want to explain clearly what it would be. Our planned 13-story community center is intended for Park Place between Church St. and West Broadway.

It is not a mosque, although it will include a space for Muslim prayer services. It will have a swimming pool, basketball court, meeting rooms, a 500-seat auditorium, banquet facilities and many other things a community needs to be healthy. The center will offer theatrical programming, art exhibitions and cooking classes. These are amenities missing now from this part of the city.

And, yes, the center will have a public memorial to the victims of 9/11 as well as a meditation room where all will be welcome for quiet reflection. The center will support soul and body. The center will be open to all regardless of religion. Like a YMCA, the 92nd St. Y or the Jewish Community Center."

The developer of this project has, to the best of our knowledge, fulfilled the requirements of the NYC planning and zoning regulations and received the necessary approvals. The local community board in Lower Manhattan voted overwhelmingly to support the proposal. Therefore, as Urban Ecologists, we believe that there is no basis for denying the developer the right to build on this private property.

As Americans, we learned in Civics Class that the First Amendment guarantees religious freedom. As secularists, tolerance is one of the values we hold most dear and defend most consistently.

So, we say, "Build the Muslim Center at Park Place 51! We look forward to visiting when it is open and ready to welcome everyone!"

A Golden Opportunity - Let the Bush Tax Cuts Expire

We, as a country, are being offered a golden opportunity. We can reduce our massive budget deficit by an estimated $300 billion per year, and we can do this by doing virtually nothing. All we need to do is let the Bush tax cuts expire.

The simple fact is that all the Bush tax cuts were unaffordable. According to the Congressional Budget Office, they contributed more to the mounting deficit in the last 8 years than either post- 9/11 security spending (including the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq) or the prescription-drug bill.

Some say that this is not a good time to raise taxes as it might stifle the growth we need to pull out of the recession. I consider this argument weak as recent history has shown that the impact on economic growth caused by marginal shifts in tax rates is pretty unclear. Clinton raised taxes in 1992 and ushered in a period of extraordinarily robust growth. Bush cut taxes massively in 2001 and got meager growth in return.

We have in front of us a simple, easy way to bring America's fiscal house more in order, reduce our dependence on foreign borrowing, restore U.S. credibility and power, and give us a stable revenue base from which to make key investments for future growth. Let's grab it.