California city denies appeal, mosque will be built

[The Northerner]

TEMECULA, Calif. (AP) — The City Council voted early on Wednesday to allow about 150 Muslim families to build a mosque in Temecula after months of angry debate over the plan that included protests and letter-writing campaigns.

The council voted 4-0 to approve the project after a nine-hour meeting that ended after 3:30 a.m.

The vote came despite fears from opponents that the Islamic Center of Temecula could bring extremist activity and traffic woes to the region in Riverside County, about 80 miles southeast of Los Angeles.

The Islamic Center was formed in 1998, and its members have been worshipping in a warehouse for a decade. The group plans to build a 25,000-square-foot, two-story mosque that will be constructed in two stages and will feature domes topped with crescent moons.

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Thank goodness that there's still some sanity remaining in this country.

[The Wielding Truth]

1. Freedom of religion for the RW is exclusive and that is Un American!

[MNBrewer]

2. I'm against the building of mosques

and temples and churches and synagogues, too .... but what difference does that make? If they buy the land and obey zoning laws, what difference does my opinion make? Let 'em build it!

[petronius]

3. Good. It sounds like some really despicable things were said in the

comment session; I'm glad the Council (and the Planning Board) were able to disregard the bigotry...

[MineralMan]

4. Knowing Temecula, I expect fires during construction, and after

the mosque is finished. The extremist activity there comes from the right, not anywhere else. Lots of "bunkers" located in and around Temecula.

[rocktivity]

5. They're worried the mosque will attract extremists?

Muslim or Christian?

Hey, let's REALLY drop the pretense and put them all in internment camps!

:crazy:
rocktivity

[catbyte]

6. "I'm afraid our freedoms are at stake with this kind of a neighbor,"

resident Connie Power wrote before the hearing.

:wtf:

That doesn't even make any kind of sense. These TPers are just plain, batshit nuts.

Diane
Anishnabe in MI

[madrchsod]

7. someone will torch the construction site.....

[ProgressiveProfessor]

8. I expect pig farms and other forms of non-actionable harrasment

to spring up. Also any environmental or traffic violations during construction to be highlighted. The permit is just the beginning if they are serious about fighting it.

[Maat]

9. The Imam is my friend.

I'm a UU (Unitarian-Universalist - http://www.uua.org), and have participated in the Interfaith Council. For every anti-mosque demonstration there was, we organized a counter in support of the mosque at their current location. We always outnumbered them by at least 2 to 1. The members were grateful and kind. My pals went to the hearings in support of the imam and his congregation.

I'm very happy about this decision.