Wednesday, March 07, 2018

Cemetery protest at HOC today 4:45 PM

Protesters will return to the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities headquarters at 4:45 PM again today, March 7, 2018, to confront commissioners over their continued stonewalling on the Moses African Cemetery controversy. The historic black cemetery is located on the property of Westwood Tower, which HOC recently purchased from developer Regency Centers for $20 million.

HOC, after taking heat from protesters for several months, has publicly backed off from an explosive plan to build a parking garage on top of the graves. However, they haven't ruled out doing so in the future, and have so far refused to allow an archaeological study to delineate the gravesites. In fact, commission chair Jackie Simon has not even acknowledged receipt of a letter from Macedonia Baptist Church Pastor Segun Adebayo asking for permission for cadaver dogs to search the property.

At today's meeting, the church and organizer SURJ will present a petition reiterating the pastor's request, signed by members of the community.

HOC's headquarters is located at 10400 Detrick Avenue in Kensington. Be forewarned that parking is very limited, as all of the parking lots are hogged by HOC, despite all we the taxpayers contribute to the HOC. There are some street parking spaces, and the surrounding residential neighborhood has permit parking restrictions. For that reason, carpool if you can.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

"Be forewarned that parking is very limited, as all of the parking lots are hogged by HOC, despite all we the taxpayers contribute to the HOC."

How dare the employees park in the parking lot of their own office.

Tschootspa!

Anonymous said...

I would be there today, however Fido has a shrink appointment at 5pm. He has anxiety due to the fact that he isn't getting his nightly walks thanks to my fear of a creepy guy walking around downtown Bethesda taking pics.

Anonymous said...

6:51am is the creepy guy... obsessed with Dyer

Anonymous said...

Daily reminder: The alleged cemetery plot was owned by a Black benevolent society, which sold it fair and square in the 1950s. It's changed hands many times since then. The church should be going after the original seller, not the current owner.

Anonymous said...

Robert, why did you wait until just 8 hours before the meeting, to tell us about the meeting? Now I have no space left on my calendar today. Surely you had heard about this before this morning?

Robert Dyer said...

4:58: How about parking for the folks who pay for the HOC headquarters and all of the salaries there? Think about it.

7:37: Did the Taubers tell Capital Properties about the cemetery when they sold it to them? Did CP tell Equity One? Why were all documents related to construction of Westwood Tower shredded when the cemetery controversy surfaced? Was that obstruction of justice (Hint: Yes)? FBI investigation needed, as with so many other scandals in MoCo.

Anonymous said...

Robert, how much of the salaries of the people who work at the HOC headquarters do you pay? You have no real property, and thus no property tax, and I don't see any sign that you have any actual income.

Robert Dyer said...

12:57: You know nothing about my financial situation. Keep speculating, though.

Anonymous said...

RELEASE THE RETURNS

Friends of Woodmont Triangle said...

12:57 PM/1:23 PM What do you gain by making up stuff about Robert Dyer?

Anonymous said...

"Why were all documents related to construction of Westwood Tower shredded when the cemetery controversy surfaced? Was that obstruction of justice (Hint: Yes)? FBI investigation needed, as with so many other scandals in MoCo."

Did you report your concerns to the FBI? Not sure why they would have jurisdiction. Did you report your concerns to the Maryland State Police? Did you report your concerns to any law enforcement agency? If not, why not?

Do you actually know the laws relating to retention of documents, or understand what the term "obstruction of justice" actually means?

Anonymous said...

The whole thing with the cemetery is bad. Those folks were swindled out of their land. Then their family graves were desecrated.

Now, decades later, an out of town developer wants to desecrate the graves again for a parking garage. And they have the Planning Board and Council bought and paid for. The Council and the developer PR firm says we shouldn't trust the descendants because they're black. They cast aspersions on them, say they're greedy and want money. They really just want the graves respected!

Now residents are defying their Council and protesting. Will the good guys prevail?

Anonymous said...

2:32 PM That's the impression I got in the proceedings and communications. No one is going to come out and say that, but their actions speak volumes.

Some "anonymous" comments here casting aspersions, saying they're greedy, etc. are from the PR firms, county staff and planning department.

Anonymous said...

Clowns!!!!!!

Terpsucka said...

How long should unmarked graves be respected? For all eternity? Even long after the land has already been put to use for the living?