Temple Terrace fails to settle on Muslim-inclusive resolution

With only four members of the five-person board present for Tuesday’s meeting, the City Council couldn’t agree on what should be done to address an anonymous letter mailed to homes last month attacking a council candidate in the Nov. 8 election for his Muslim faith.

At first, the plan was to pass a resolution signaling solidarity with Muslim residents. But questions arose after the resolution’s wording was changed to cover all religions by eliminating any specific mention to Muslims at all.

Now, it will be up to the newly elected board to decide what to do with the resolution. For council member Greg Rimby, who sat for his last full council meeting Tuesday after serving one four-year term, the move was yet another example of “kicking the can down the road for future councils to deal with.”

“I think we’ve taken a graceful resolution that was a direct condemnation of Islamaphobia and made it a Kumbaya moment,” Rimby said. “This was a specific letter, and it deserves a specific response. We shouldn’t ignore it.”

The letter, which was mailed with no return address or signature, questioned whether City Council candidate Wael Odeh, who was born in Palestine, has ties to terrorists, and asked, “Could Odeh’s election be a foot in the door of Sharia Law’s subtle influence in our community?”

In response, Amina Spahic, Tampa Bay area regional director for the Muslim political engagement group Emerge USA, drafted a resolution for the City Council stating that Muslims “represent an integral part of both the United States and the local community in the city of Temple Terrace.”

Yet Temple Terrace City Manager Charles Stephenson rewrote the resolution to read that “Temple Terrace takes great pride in supporting individual religious freedoms and is strengthened by the many varied cultural traditions of its diverse population.”

Stephenson reiterated Tuesday that he and city officials found the letter “cowardly,” but thought it best to pass a generic resolution supporting all “religions, races and creeds.”

“It’s unfortunate this has gotten so much credibility,” Stephenson said. “That was one of the things we were trying not to do was give the letter exactly what the writer wanted, which was the notoriety of being the author of very troubling news.”

While Rimby moved for the original resolution to be passed, council members Cheri Donohue and Robert Boss said they would rather see a more inclusive measure, such as reaffirming its support for Hillsborough County’s human rights ordinance.

Boss cautioned the council against injecting itself into election matters, and questioned whether such a resolution would infringe on rights of free speech.

“This is an anonymous piece of junk mail that has no validity, and it should be treated as such,” he said. “I don’t agree it’s a hate crime. It hasn’t been found to be one.”

Laila Abdelaziz, government affairs director for the Temple Terrace-based chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, referenced a spate of fires at Tampa area mosques over the summer. Officials found that at least two of the five fires, one at the Islamic Education Center in Town ‘N Country and another at the Masjid Omar mosque on Busch Boulevard, were intentionally set.

“Our legal team has never been as busy as they are now,” Abdelaziz said.

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