Manhattan Islamic center owes $1.7 million, landlord says

[alp227]

New York (CNN) -- Lower Manhattan's controversial Park51 Islamic center is now in a court battle with utility Consolidated Edison, which says the center owes it $1.7 million in a dispute over back rent.

In court papers, Park51 says it owes Con Edison only $881,000 and calls the utility's demand "grossly inflated." The center has filed suit against the company over a default notice it was issued in September, and a New York state judge has stayed any action until after a hearing in November.

In a statement to CNN on Sunday, Con Edison said it "remains hopeful" that it can work out an agreement with Park51, which leases part of its property from the utility. Park51's developers did not return a phone call seeking comment.

The center, which includes a mosque, drew intense opposition in 2010 from politicians, conservative activists and some families of the victims of the al Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center. The twin towers stood about two blocks from the site before they were destroyed by the suicide hijackings on September 11, 2001, leading critics to dub the project the "Ground Zero Mosque."

full: http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/16/us/new-york-islamic-center/index.html

[aquart]

1. They never had the money.

Scam from Day One.

People kept arguing that freedom of religion was the issue. Freedom of religion was THE HOOK.