State Senate Candidate Mike DiSanto Speaks Out Against Ground Zero Mosque Location

Aug. 8, 2010 - PRLog -- NY State Senate Candidate Mike DiSanto (D,WF-Gravesend) Speaks Out Against Ground Zero Mosque Location: "There should be humility for the families of those we lost on 9/11"

In an open letter to the Cordoba Initiative and proponents of the Cordoba House NYC, Mike DiSanto writes:

The area of Ground Zero is one of the most sacred areas in our country, and represents Americans uniting and standing together.  While I respect the constitutional rights of religious freedom, there is also something to say about simultaneously respecting and honoring the wishes of many 9/11 victims' families.

Respect and tolerance work both ways and to date it does not seem like the proponents of the Cordoba House have taken the feelings of 9/11 victims' families into consideration when determining the location of their facility. In a city as big as ours, it seems that an alternate location could have been an amicable solution respecting all parties.

It is concerning to me and many residents of District 22 that an alternate, more neutral site was not chosen, which would have amicably respected the religious liberty of the entity as well as the due respect and consideration to the extraordinarily sacred vicinity surrounding ground zero. There should be humility for children who will never see their parents again, humility for parents who had to endure burying their own children and humility for the NYPD, PAPD and FDNY heroes who perished in those flames on 9/11.

With that said, I humbly ask the Cordoba Initiative, on behalf of residents of neighborhoods including Gravesend, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge, Sheepshead Bay and Marine Park, that the proposed site be moved to a location that allows people to enjoy the religious freedom that our country provides while respecting the families of those we lost on 9/11.