LPNY HomeLibertarian Party of NY -- Press Release -- Senator Clinton & Bigwigs Celebrate where Church was Destroyed

Senator Clinton & Bigwigs Celebrate where Church was Destroyed

Westbury, NY 12/13/04--On Tuesday 12/14, Senator Clinton, Congresswoman McCarthy, Nassau County Executive Suozzi and other Democratic bigwigs will gather at 1PM for groundbreaking of the New Cassel "revitalization" project at 816-822 Prospect Avenue, between Siegel and Sheridan Streets in the Long Island, NY hamlet. At 822 Prospect Avenue stood the building St. Luke's Pentecostal Church had bought and was renovating. The Town of North Hempstead took the poor black church's property through eminent domain. The Libertarian Party and the church's members will protest at the groundbreaking, according to Libertarian Party of New York Vice-Chair and Nassau County Chair Richard Cooper.

St. Luke's Pentecostal Church bought the property for $130,000, intending to renovate. North Hempstead blocked their plans. The Town offered $80,000, still unpaid. A 2000 story in The Westbury Times by Jessica DeStefano quoted a Town Zoning Board official "We have enough churches here in New Cassel." Although the Town blocked repairs, they condemned the building as a hazard and tore it down. Rev. Fred Jenkins said that St. Luke?s wants to renew the community with "God's plan and their money instead of the Town's plan and the taxpayers' money."

Cooper and the Libertarians note that the properties taken from private owners are being flipped to private developers. He declares, "We call this legalized theft. We demand St. Luke's property back. Moses said to Pharaoh "Let my people go." The Libertarian party says to our modern Pharaohs, the politicians and bureaucrats, "let these people stay."

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