NY State Senator Seeks Probe of Agency's Mosque Approval
Orriginally Published in Queens Chronicle
Posted: Thursday, October 6, 2016 10:30 am
by Ryan Brady, Associate Editor
State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) again has sent a letter to U.S. Attorney of the Southern District Preet Bharara to review the Board of Standards and Appeals for possible improper conduct because its chairwoman appeared at the opening for a mosque that the agency approved . . .
According to Council on American Islamic Relations spokesman Ibrahim Hooper, opposition to mosque construction is often Islamophobic, although opponents of the Flushing mosque proposal have said that they are not against it because of the religion.
“We always hear that the opposition has nothing to do with it being a mosque or a school or a Muslim cemetery until you scratch the surface and you almost always find a level of anti-Muslim bias,” Hooper said.