The furor over an Islamic center and mosque planned near ground zero flared up again on Tuesday, as lawyers for a former New York City firefighter asked a judge to overturn the city’s decision to withhold landmark protection for the building site.
The decision last August by the Landmarks Preservation Commission removed a significant obstacle to the planned construction of a tower on Park Place, two blocks from the site of the 9/11 attack. The former firefighter, Timothy Brown, sued the city that month, saying the commission had been unfairly influenced by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has forcefully supported the right of the site’s owner to build the center, known as Park51.
