Don McCallian of United Forties (Photo: Luke Adams)
April 24, 2011 By Christian Murray
A Sunnyside/Woodside civic group is about to begin a petition to call on the New York City Council to come out against the building of a mosque near ground zero.
The petition was proposed by Don McCallian, president of the United 40s Civic Association, after one of the association’s members, who lost a loved one in 9/11, called the mosque a “victory site for the terrorists.”
McCallian, who spoke at the group’s monthly meeting 10 days ago, said that “we need a massive campaign to stop this,” including going to many of the neighborhood groups to sign on to the petition. Asked what the petition letter would say, he said: “We don’t support the mosque in that location.”
Jimmy Van Bramer was on hand when the discussion took place, but said he needed to know all the facts and have a meeting on the topic before coming out with a position on it.
The proposed mosque, which has been the subject of some heated debate for some time, would be a part of a 13-story Muslim community center to be located two blocks from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan.
It would replace an existing 1850s Italianate-style building that was being used as a Burlington Coat Factory before it was damaged in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
