Opponents of a planned Muslim community center on the east side are marshaling their forces for a demonstration outside City Hall prior to the 6 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 19 Zoning Board of Adjustment special meeting at which the project will be considered. It’s the only item on the agenda.
Joe Wisniewski has been against the project—slated for 109 East 24th Street—since first hearing about it. He and others have formed an opposition movement.
“We feel this doesn’t belong in our community,” Wisniewski said. “We feel the community won’t be safe.”
He cited Islamic jihadist attacks in France last year, and threatened attacks in Belgium and Germany, as the reason for his opposition to the Muslim center.
“It’s an international issue,” he said. “You see what’s going on in Europe. We can’t just see our city overrun.”
Wisniewski said that residents have told him they would like their area to stay just the way it is.
“It’s a peaceful, quite neighborhood,” he said. “That’s going to change if anything like this happens.”
Wisniewski said increased traffic and people going into and out of the center would make an already dense area more crowded, with increased noise and decreased parking.
A Facebook page, Neighbors United Against Building the Mosque, was also started last year. It had 599 members in September, and now has 617.
Wisniewski said his group had a meeting on Jan. 5 at a local tavern to discuss what it can do to fight the proposed center. He said it is now aligned with civic activist Peter Franco, who helped organize a rally last year outside City Hall against the selection of Bayonne’s new animal control services provider.
Ten to 15 people are working on plans for the 5:30 p.m. demonstration on Jan. 19, according to Wisniewski, who said the group expects hundreds of people to show up at City Hall, not just those who live in the vicinity of the proposed center.
“It’s not just a local issue,” he said. “It’s a bigger issue than an east side issue.”
Wisniewski said the opponents are again reaching out to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for his intervention in the matter.
The center
The Bayonne Muslim Community is a nonprofit organization. The group wants to take the structure at the former Controlled Demolition property and use it for teaching, recreation, and prayer.
But first the group must receive approval from the board for whatever renovations would have to be completed at the 20,000-square-foot former industrial site.
“I offered to meet with them and they never got back to me.’” – William Finnerty
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Most of the changes would be cosmetic, on the outside of the building, according to attorney William Finnerty, of Hughes & Finnerty, P.C. of Bayonne, who is representing the Bayonne Muslim Community.
The organization had used the St. Henry Church school across the street from City Hall for several years to pray and hold activities. But the group said it has now outgrown that space.
Meeting was offered
Finnerty said his clients reached out to neighbors more than two months ago to discuss their concerns. But former Bayonne City Council candidate John Butchko said neighborhood residents were unified in their opposition to the community center.
“I offered to meet with them and they never got back to me,” Finnerty said on Jan. 6. “They don’t want to know the facts. It’s as simple as that.”
Finnerty said that while those against the community have a right to protest, his clients’ plans for the site haven’t changed.
Those plans include religious services, services for youth, and an outreach program.
“Also planned is a food pantry, which is open to all of the community,” Finnerty said. “This is especially important now, with the closing of other food pantries.”
Notices about the project have been sent out to those in the neighborhood.
“It’s the only case on the agenda, and we should get it through that night,” he said, of the Jan. 19 meeting.
Multiple phone calls to Waheed Akbar, secretary for the Bayonne Muslim Community, were not returned.
Joseph Passantino may be reached at JoePass@hudsonreporter.com.