Church feels neglected in 9/11 mosque debate
Members of a Greek Orthodox church that was leveled in the World Trade Center collapse are feeling frustrated and forgotten amid the national hubbub about a Ground Zero mosque.
“There’s all this hoopla about the mosque,” said John Couloucoundis, the parish president. “\[But we\] are sitting in limbo.”
The church, which stood on Cedar Street for 85 years, has decamped to a Brooklyn parish while it tries to work out a deal for a new house of worship with the Port Authority. But negotiations with the agency broke down last year after the church refused to receive $20 million in promised funding on installments, Couloucoundis said.
Since then, discussions have gone painfully slow for the 200-member church, with the archdiocese having to step in to restart talks, he said. A PA spokesman did not return requests for comment Tuesday.
“We’re frustrated,” Couloucoundis said. “[Port Authority officials] work in this unpredictable manner.”
'We treat each of these cases individually' A Newsday review turned up half a dozen instances of unidentified remains found on LI in the early '90s — a period when the admitted serial killer began committing murders. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn hosts a discussion with Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney and Newsday criminal justice reporter Anthony DeStefano.
'We treat each of these cases individually' A Newsday review turned up half a dozen instances of unidentified remains found on LI in the early '90s — a period when the admitted serial killer began committing murders. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn hosts a discussion with Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney and Newsday criminal justice reporter Anthony DeStefano.
