The city Landmarks Preservation Commission’s 9-0 vote denying landmark status to 45 Park Place means that construction of an Islamic cultural center can now move forward. Judging by the pretty weak showing of opponents at the meeting, a few of whom shouted “Shame!” and other comments at the fast-departing commissioners at the end of the meeting, you didn’t sense there’s much steam left in the stop-the-mega-mosque crowd, cable news notwithstanding. That made things especially hard on the hordes of reporters who were looking for quotes, and were willing to mob someone — anyone – who looked like they had an opinion of any kind.

One group, the DC-based American Center for Law and Justice, says it’s going to court. They claim there’s been an “abuse of discretion” on the part of the commission, but weren’t very clear on what means.

There was also a construction worker, Andy Sullivan, who opposes the project — he conceded that most official avenues of opposition are pretty much exhausted. But then he got a gleam in his eye and said he had one last trick up his sleeve: “Construction workers,” he half-whispered. Which is to say, none of them — at least not the ones he knows — would work on this project. But that implies groundbreaking is set for tomorrow, and that there’s a minaret sitting around somewhere in a very long cardboard box, just waiting to be unpacked and erected.

So, is this a mosque or not? To be honest, we’re a little confused ourselves. In keeping with the language offered by proponents of the project, we’ve tried to call it an “Islamic cultural center.” A mosque, according to one supporter, is geared exclusively towards the spiritual needs of Muslims. This project, they say, would try to bring in non-Muslims as well, and have everyone chat about world matters, when they’re not making use of the gym, swimming pool or restaurant.

But if you scroll down the list of facilities for Park 51 (the new, very tony name for the project) you see this included:

a mosque, intended to be run separately from Park 51 but open to and accessible to all members, visitors and our New York community

Huh?

Perhaps the bigger issue — bigger than the semantics of mosque vs. cultural center, bigger than any approvals the developers secure — is the question of money. Critics have raised the issue of whether a $100 million price tag leaves the project beholden to shady Middle Eastern interests. But so far, no money appears to have been raised. So it’s safe to say it will be years before this project takes shape — long enough for some people to have forgotten what the fuss was about. Construction workers included.