XM MLB Chat: Ground Zero mosque Imam lawsuit for 200 violations including dead rats, bedbugs, non-working fire alarms, & mold proceeds with report to judge Friday

10/22, Union City: "City officials were still compiling information last night after a final inspection yesterday of the 16-unit residential building owned by the imam who intends to build a mosque and Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero.

The final inspection report will be turned over to Hudson County Superior Court today and a date for a teleconference between city attorneys, the attorney for Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, and the court will be arranged, city spokesman Mark Albiez said.

The city wants to place the building - 2206 Central Ave. - into receivership, meaning a third-party would be responsible for collecting rent and maintaining the property.

The city is suing Rauf for failing to address more than 200 fire and health code violations. The violations

included dead rats in the basement,
bedbugs,
a faulty fire alarm system, and
moldy bathrooms, ceilings and common areas.

Judge Thomas Olivieri has said that during the teleconference, the three parties will determine the next step, whether it be another court hearing or a ruling.

Olivieri previously ordered Rauf to reimburse the city $19,800 for having to assign police officers to watch the building for a period last month and earlier this month

because of fire code violations.

Tomas Espinosa, the attorney for Rauf, has told the court that all the necessary repairs have been made.

Rauf is proposing to build a mosque and Islamic cultural center two blocks from Ground Zero where nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001."

"Union City's Inspection Report on Imam's Troubled Building will be put in Judge's hand today," Jersey Journal

Reference: 9/15/10, NY Post, "Ground Zero Mosque Imam is a no-show in New Jersey court," T. Topousis

Imam Rauf was given $2 million in US taxpayer money to repair his buildings but they remained full of violations for years, including utilities unpaid as of September 2010. Star Ledger, 9/13/10: "The Record reported that Rauf received more than $2 million in public money to renovate low-income apartments he owns in Hudson County, including those mentioned in today’s lawsuit, after winning support for the projects from officials, including

the disgraced former County Executive Robert C. Janiszewski, and U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, who was mayor of Union City at the time.

The Record also reported that Rauf had ties to local waterfront developer Fred Daibes, and was sued by a Daibes associate who had charged the imam with mortgage fraud in 2008, a suit that was settled in June."...