Texas beats Montgomery County for Public Storage HQ despite Westbard self-storage capital

The latest Montgomery County fumble on the corporate headquarters front is hardly the highest-profile, but wields a special sting due to a dubious honor the County holds. Public Storage announced Thursday that it has chosen Frisco, Texas from among its suitors for the next location of its worldwide HQ. Fleeing California, Public Storage will join over 200(!! - hey, everything's bigger in Texas, right?) other corporate headquarters at Hall Park in the booming Lone Star state. This despite the Westbard area of Bethesda arguably holding the world's record for most square feet of self-storage, and the greatest number of individual self-storage facilities within such a cramped radius. 

"We sell boxes!" is rarely considered sizzling competition for "I Love New York" and "What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas" when it comes to prominent placemaking slogan signage. But what self-storage CEO wouldn't get a daily ego boost from looking out his window at a corner of the globe utterly dominated by his or her industry? Why, not just one, but two Public Storage facilties are even among the prominent architectural landmarks of the Westbard area.

Josh Allen-ing the chance to win the Public Storage HQ achieves the trifecta of Westbard embarrassment for the Montgomery County cartel. Multiple County Councils have failed to deliver the promised amenities, schools, parks, and public perks of the 1982 and 2016 Westbard sector plans. What did materialize since the cartel seized control of a Council majority in 2002 were numerous, gargantuan self-storage facilities that loom over every corner of that "Westbard sector." To then fail to even win the corporate HQ of one of them is the latest - albeit trivially small - reason the cartel and its puppets on the Council can't say "Problem Solved" the way Public Storage does, when it comes to the moribund County economy and its failure to attract a single new major corporate HQ in over 25 years. Heckuva job, Brownie!

Public Storage units burglarized in Bethesda

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a burglary at Public Storage at 5329 Westbard Avenue in Bethesda on December 23, 2024. Officers responding to the scene found evidence of forced entry into multiple storage units in the building. It is believed the units were broken into between 8:55 PM the night before, and 4:00 AM that morning. Property was taken from the units that were burglarized. If you have any information about this incident, call police at (301) 279-8000.

Self-storage unit broken into in North Bethesda

Montgomery County police are investigating a burglary incident at Extra Space Storage at 11850 Parklawn Drive in North Bethesda. Police are not sure when the burglary occurred, but the crime was discovered at noon on July 14, 2024. Officers responding to the scene found evidence of forced entry to one of the storage units at the facility. Unspecified property was stolen from inside the unit.

If you have any information about this incident, or can identify any suspects involved, you are asked to call police at (301) 279-8000.

Bethesda Black cemetery advocates enraged by concrete pour at construction site

Controversy continues to swirl around the construction of a self-storage building on a plot of land directly adjacent to the desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. Advocates for the cemetery, including the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition, have raised concerns about possible skeletal remains and funerary objects they say they have observed being excavated and trucked away from the site. A renowned expert on African-American burial grounds asked Montgomery County officials if he could examine the items in question, but was denied access, and the excavated materials remain locked in a warehouse at an undisclosed location in Virginia. Elected officials at the local, state and federal levels have declined to intervene in the remains controversy, and advocates' outrage only increased this week when concrete was poured over the site, which is located behind the McDonald's restaurant on River Road.

The construction site was not officially part of the cemetery, which is hidden under two parking lots behind Westbard Tower on Westbard Avenue, the construction of which in the late 1960s desecrated many graves. However, the concern has been that boundaries of many Black cemeteries have historically been poorly defined, and that remains have sometimes been buried beyond the formal property lines. Those concerns were heightened after observers associated with BACC claimed to have seen items being unearthed that resembled bones, headstones, and other funerary objects. The self-storage business has its own credentialed archaeological expert, who was said to have examined these materials, and concluded they were not human bones. Advocates want to know why, if this is true, they cannot have access to the materials for independent review.

County officials and law enforcement have sided with the conclusions of the self-storage team, and say no law is being broken. As construction advances, emotions are also rising among cemetery activists and the descendant community.

"We have been robbed in the Black River Road community," Harvey Matthews, a former resident of the community said. "Our land was stolen. My father and grandfather were nearly beaten to death by the KKK. I was beaten by the KKK. In the 1950s, Montgomery County poured cement to build a parking lot over the bodies of Black people. Now in 2024, Montgomery County and developers have poured cement over the bodies of black people, again, to hide the bones of our ancestors that they found and stole. These are monsters!"

Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, President of BACC, vowed to keep up the political pressure on elected officials at all levels. "In the coming weeks, leading up to the commemoration of Juneteenth, BACC will lead demonstrations, rallies, and other events to demand justice for our ancestors and criminal prosecution of those involved in this heinous crime," she said. "Every Wednesday at 4:00 PM, community members [will] gather at Moses to bring attention to this crime against humanity."

Security Public Storage broken into again in Bethesda

Security Public Storage at 5223 River Road in Bethesda has been burglarized for the second time in as many months. The latest break-in was reported early Wednesday afternoon, April 24, 2024 at 12:53 PM. Last month, a break-in was reported at the facility on March 2. 

Security Public Storage broken into in Bethesda

Montgomery County police responded to a report of a burglary at Security Public Storage at 5223 River Road in Bethesda on March 2, 2024. The burglary was reported at 10:04 PM. Officers responding to the call found evidence of forced entry at the building. Police say they have not yet determined what - if anything - the burglar took. Detectives describe the suspect only as "male."

That's gotta hurt, Gene: Security Public Storage sign damaged in Bethesda (Photos)

The sign out in front of Security Public Storage was apparently struck by a vehicle sometime this weekend. It's leaning like the Tower of Pisa at the self-storage facility at 5223 River Road in Bethesda. Someone has cordoned the area around the sign off with cone-style bollards and caution tape. There's also some damage to one of the lower corners of the sign, the one closest to the street, again suggesting it was struck by a tall vehicle.

Cemetery expert calls for halt to work on self-storage project in Bethesda

Noon protests to continue today

and Thursday at site

Internationally-renowned anthropologist Dr. Michael Blakey, an expert on African-American burial sites and known for his role in the development of the African Burial Ground National Monument in New York City, has joined other experts and advocates in calling for a halt to construction on a self-storage building behind the McDonald's on River Road in Bethesda. Based on his review of photographs taken of the site, Blakey says there is a "possibility" that human remains and funerary objects may have been disturbed in the excavation of the construction site, but that he cannot verify this from photographs only.

The site sits directly adjacent to the historic Moses African Cemetery, which was desecrated and paved over during the construction of the nearby Westwood Tower in the late 1960s. A longstanding concern of cemetery advocates has been the possibility that some remains may have been buried beyond the property line of the cemetery, a common finding in other black cemeteries across the country. Those concerns were unanimously dismissed by the Montgomery County Planning Board in 2017, at a meeting where Chair Casey Anderson called in armed police to confront activists peacefully protesting to stop the project.

"The photograph I was shown...shows fragments of light-colored elongated material consistent with skeletal material, but is not currently verifiable as such," Blakey writes. "Also, a suspicious flagged area of possibly organically rich soil (a unique area of vegetation is growing there) recently covered with gravel, could represent a burial."

Blakey's concerns add to those of Dr. Adrienne Pine, Professor of Anthropology at American University, Dr. Rachel Watkins, Associate Professor of Anthropology at American University, and Dr. Tammy R. Hilburn, an archaeologist and cultural property crime specialist. Hilburn has observed the excavation and construction work at the site from beyond the property line on an almost-daily basis since June 8.

"I have seen no screening of dirt nor manifestation of the items or personnel typically associated with proper archaeological methodologies," Hilburn says. "I have seen archaeological strata and possible biomass, as well as possible osseous fragments, not to mention other cultural material, in piles being shifted around and re-used on the site that is to be the new storage facility."

Despite his stellar credentials - or as some suspect, because of them - Montgomery County has steadfastly denied Dr. Blakey access to conduct any studies on any part of the cemetery even before the self-storage project was proposed. In fact, the County moved to hastily acquire a piece of the cemetery which a property owner was willing to allow Blakey and other experts to investigate to locate gravesites, specifically to prevent such revelations from surfacing that would threaten planned development in the area.

Cemetery advocates, led by the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition, say they will rally and attempt to block work at the site today and tomorrow, July 1 and 2, from noon until 1:00 PM.

Bethesda cemetery protesters block cement trucks at construction site

Protest leads to confrontation

with Park Police

Protesters blocked two cement trucks from entering the construction site of a self-storage building behind the McDonald's on River Road in Bethesda Tuesday. Advocates for the desecrated and hidden Moses African Cemetery held the first of three protests this week at the site, over concerns that human remains could be disturbed by the project. When a Park Police SUV arrived at the scene near the end of the peaceful protest, demonstrator B.E. Farrow blocked it from entering as well, leading to a confrontation with the officer.

"We're on police business, back the f*** down," Farrow recounted the officer saying in a statement released by the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition today. Another protester, Chris Rigaux, recalled the unmasked officer saying, "Get the f*** out of my way. I am on official police business," to Farrow, who was wearing a mask. No arrests were made.

BACC has been monitoring the site daily, and report that there is no archaeologist on-site, as was required by the project's approved plan for the building's foundation work, the group said. The organization said they were forced to physically halt the work going on at the site after their pleas were ignored by the Montgomery County Council and the County Executive.

While the self-storage building's footprint is not within the recorded boundaries of the Moses African Cemetery, the concern has been that remains improperly buried beyond the property line could be disturbed during excavation. This has been a common issue with many black cemeteries. Advocates for the cemetery had suggested searching the site to ensure it was clear before approving the project, but that suggestion was unanimously rebuffed by the Montgomery County Planning Board. The Board also acquired an adjacent parcel of the property that actually was part of the burial ground, in order to prevent BACC from having any archaeological studies performed on that piece.

"This is a crime scene," Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, president of the BACC, said in a statement Wednesday. "This cemetery holds the bodies of innocent boys and girls, girls that were brutally raped unto death to provide slaves for the immoral slave trade. We will not allow their bodies to be further desecrated, to be covered by concrete, and their memories forgotten forever."

"We will be back every day until this digging is halted and Moses Cemetery is returned to its rightful owner: Macedonia Baptist Church," Dr. Coleman-Adebayo added.

Photos courtesy BACC

Justice Monday protest tomorrow in Bethesda

Organizers demanding action to stop

construction by cemetery site and

on police shootings of black men

A Justice Monday rally and march will be held in Bethesda Monday, June 8, 2020 at 5:00 PM at Macedonia Baptist Church at 5119 River Road in Bethesda. Organized by the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition and Showing Up for Racial Justice - Montgomery County, the event will protest and draw attention to the start of construction of a self-storage building at the edge of the hidden Moses African Cemetery, as well as to black men who have been killed by police in Montgomery County.

The organizers are calling for a halt to construction at the Bethesda Self Storage site behind McDonald's on River Road, a boycott of non-black/non-POC-owned Montgomery County businesses every Monday, and the arrest and charging of officers in the Emmanuel Okutuga, Robert White, and Finan Berhe shooting cases.

Justice Mondays will be held weekly until the demands are met, the organizers say. Monday's event will include a march to the self-storage site and cemetery. They are asking each participant to wear a mask, and to stay 6' apart from others.

Excavation for self-storage building begins at edge of Moses African Cemetery site in Bethesda

A day after Bethesda residents marched in a Black Lives Matter parade, heavy equipment was moved onto the site of a former auto repair facility behind the Bethesda McDonald's on River Road. And Thursday, those machines were digging up the property, which became embroiled in the controversial case of the Moses African Cemetery in recent years. The parcel being dug up is directly adjacent to the cemetery, which was already desecrated by a construction crew building the Westwood Tower apartments in the late 1960s.

Leaders of the nearby Macedonia Baptist Church on River Road and cemetery advocates had fought the proposed self-storage project's approval. Outlet Road, on the McDonald's side of the property, was once the route of funeral processions from the church to the cemetery.

Part of the property that literally was part of the burial site was hastily transferred from the property owner to Montgomery County at the behest of the Mongomery County Planning Board, which has blocked every effort to identify gravesites across the entire cemetery, which lies beneath asphalt and fill dirt. Board Chair Casey Anderson infamously called police on African-American church leaders and protesters at several board meetings, including the one where he and the board unanimously approved the self-storage project.

In a County that pledged "Black Lives Matter" verbally this week, the white Anderson faced no blowback from his Democratic colleagues in political office nor the press, despite national campaigns exhorting whites to "stop calling the police" as a convenient way to remove an inconvenient situation involving African-Americans such as this. When my camera came out to capture the scene, reporters for the Washington Post and other local media outlets conspicuously put theirs away. Anderson was unanimously reappointed chair of the board by the all-Democrat Montgomery County Council last year, despite his actions, and over the objections of the black community and progressive activists. In fact, Anderson continues to be rewarded for his loyal work on behalf of the Montgomery County political cartel, including being named "Montgomery County's Most Influential Person" by The Seventh State's Adam Pagnucco this year. Anderson is "one of the greatest planning board chairs ever," Pagnucco gushed, predicting the County will bear Anderson's stamp "for the next 50 years."

Protests against the self-storage project centered around two concerns. First, the County consistently blocked efforts to identify specific gravesites, and the piece the landowner transferred to the County meant that once again cemetery advocates would be blocked from any archaeological investigation on that plot.

The second concern relates to a common phenomenon in historic African-American cemeteries, many of which - like this one - have been neglected, or built over by developers: cemetery boundaries were often unclear. Sometimes casket would be mistakenly buried over the official boundary of the graveyard. So while the portion of the property being redeveloped for the self-storage building was not part of the cemetery according to land records, there is a legitimate fear that remains buried over the property line by mistake could be disturbed by the excavation and construction. Or, given the construction method planned for the building, any such graves might simply end up under a self-storage facility.

Calls for an archaeological study to ensure this did not happen were rebuffed by County officials, just as they were in the larger case of the cemetery portion that belonged to Equity One and - later - the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission. As of now, construction on the River Road site is full-speed-ahead.

Bethesda self-storage project moving forward again

A self-storage building approved by Montgomery County in December 2017 has yet to be built at 5204 River Road. While the auto maintenance facility on that property located behind the River Road McDonald's was torn down soon after the approval, the project has stalled for nearly two-and-a-half years. Now the developer is reviving the plans, but is seeking to amend the approved site plan.

Three key changes have been proposed by the applicant, Bethesda Self Storage:

1. A reduction in the setback for the front of the building, from 33' to 20'
2. A reduction of the rear setback from 19' down to 16'
3. Confirmation of a parcel donation to Montgomery County of 4792 SF

There were actually two land issues involved with the self storage proposal in 2017. First, is the applicant's role in transforming Outlet Road into a pedestrian path (this is the road that runs along the back retaining wall behind the McDonald's property, and was also a funeral procession route from Macedonia Baptist Church to the Moses African Cemetery on the Westwood Tower site).

Second, the applicant was to donate a parcel of property to Montgomery County Parks that is known to be part of the cemetery. Unknown, and of concern to the church and community advocates, is whether any bodies may have been intentionally or mistakenly buried or reburied within the footprint of the proposed self-storage building. No one has ever excavated the site yet, so that remains unknown. Those concerns were dismissed by the Montgomery County Planning Board in 2017, despite protests at the meeting, as were concerns about stormwater management.

One condition of approval for the site plan amendments will be the applicant making a "good faith effort" to convince McDonald's to construct an ADA-compliant ramp from its property down to Outlet Road. The Outlet Road path is conceived as a walking route to a future linear park along the Willett Branch stream.

A public hearing on the proposed amendments is tentatively scheduled for August 20, 2020. As we all know, in light of the coronavirus pandemic, everything is very tentative right now.

Demolition update: Westbard Self Storage site (Photos)

The auto repair garage behind McDonald's on River Road is just a pile of rubble now. At least one large satellite dish had to be relocated. Regarding the legitimate concerns that graves (burials that might have been placed outside the cemetery boundaries by accident, or by WSSC in the 1950s, when they moved the Willett Branch stream into the cemetery) from the adjacent Moses African Cemetery might be disturbed on this site, so far they are just demolishing and clearing the site. No digging or excavation had begun as of early this morning. Stay tuned.

Here's the end of the project site where
the potential is highest to encounter
burial sites that were accidentally placed
beyond the cemetery border over time

Demolition begins for Westbard Self Storage (Photos)

Demolition of the auto repair building on the future site of Westbard Self Storage has begun behind the McDonald's on River Road. The project has provoked some controversy, as the property includes a portion of land being donated to Montgomery County, which is part of the Moses African Cemetery. Cemetery advocates had urged the County to require an archaeological study of the plot before allowing construction and demolition to begin. The Planning Board declined to do so. Many times, historic African-American cemeteries such as this can have gravesites beyond their property lines, because those borders are not always physically delineated.

Even more self-storage coming to Westbard

Thanks to a Montgomery County Council asleep at the switch for 40 years, until developers woke them by waving money under their nose, the Westbard area of Bethesda became the world capital of self-storage. Of course, high demand for storage space played an equal role. A few months after the Montgomery County Planning Board approved a controversial new self-storage business on River Road - and then ran out of the room to avoid their constituents, more self storage units are on the way.

ezStorage at 5329 Westbard Avenue (behind the Residences at the Capital Crescent Trail Because We're Going for the Guinness Record for Longest Apartment Building Name) has requested a construction permit from Montgomery County for an addition to its existing six-level storage facility.