POWIP Piece of Work In Progress – Former Abode of Dan Collins

Mark Knoller Editorializes on Ground Zero Mosque on Twitter [UPDATED]

@markknoller:

There is a distinction between saying Muslims have the right to build a mosque at a given location - without endorsing the wisdom of it.

What I want to know---and what I tweeted to him twice, asking for a statement---is whether the President or Knoller can name a single person who states that Muslims no right to try to establish a mosque where they like. I don't know of a single person who's advanced that argument.

There exists no "right" to build, however:

As a former member of a Church Board, I happen to have learned that what Obama claims is a right to build a place of worship on private property is, in practice, not really a right at all. Churches are subject to the authority of zoning officials and routinely face barriers that secular building projects do not.

The President should, and probably does know that where local governments are dominated by people with his Leftist point of view, churches are often denied what he claims is their right unless they have the resources and time to litigate in court. In fact, if the Muslims had to find another site their burden would be less than the burdens of hundreds of Christian churches all across the country.

Local zoning boards publish lists of land-use designations with the types of uses permitted within each designation “as a matter of right,” meaning no special action by the zoning board is required. For example, in a “Commercial” zone one may build a retail store as a matter of right, but not a factory. To use a property for an activity not on the list for that property’s zoning designation, one must first apply for a “variance” which can be granted or denied, for virtually any reason, at the discretion of the zoning board.

A study of over 200 municipalities by the Chicago law firm Mauck & Baker, found that more than half had no zone whatsoever where houses of worship could locate as a matter of right. Thus, worship is virtually the only activity that may not locate anywhere in those municipalities without first receiving permission from zoning officials, who operate with the power to deny permission for any reason or no reason.

They know this, or ought to, full well. They're tilting at straw men, just as Politico's Ben Smith did, this morning.

Hey, I'm so liberal that I think New Yorkers ought to be able to take as much salt as they want, wherever they want it. I'm just not going to say anything about the wisdom of it.

UPDATE: Ric Locke breaks it all down for us.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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