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| Excavation underway at 5204 River Road in 2020 |
The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition will deliver a petition signed by almost 1000 people to the Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services in Wheaton this afternoon. It is a petition asking DPS to suspend the Certificate of Occupancy for the new self-storage building at 5204 River Road, behind the McDonald's restaurant in Bethesda. The occupancy permit was issued to project developer 1784 Holdings of Arizona.
Cemetery advocates have been engaged in an ongoing legal dispute with the developer and Montgomery County government over alleged destruction of possible human remains and funerary objects during excavation of the site, which is directly adjacent to the Moses African Cemetery. The developer's archaeological expert certified that no such remains or objects were discovered during the dig. BACC disputes this. During the approval process for the building, concerns were raised that African-American cemeteries like Moses often lacked clear boundaries delineated by fencing, leading to potential burials outside the property lines. This led the developer to engage the services of the archaeological expert to oversee the excavation, which was also monitored from outside the property by representatives of BACC.
"Our ancestors are still being treated as chattel, non-human - transactional 'things' that can be destroyed and used at the economic or social pleasure of those in power," BACC President Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo said in a statement this morning. "It is only through blatant corruption and disregard for the rule of law that Montgomery County can provide the certificate of occupation with the permit violation allegations before the court. Developers who follow the rules should also be outraged if the Permitting Office provides the Arizona company with a certificate of occupancy."
BACC representatives will be joined this afternoon by representatives of the Maryland Green Party, Black United Front, Montgomery County Democratic Socialists of America, the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the African Communities League. "Voters across the state are angry that their politicians don’t care about them. The inspiring thing is people are joining together, rising up, and fighting back," Maryland Green Party gubernatorial nominee Andy Ellis said. "BACC has long been at the forefront of that, and I am excited to join them on Wednesday and push for justice and accountability."
21 comments:
You know we'll end up writing them a big check, the gubmint can afford it.
Their renumeration plan keeps getting thwarted by facts, laws, science, and earlier self made mistakes.
Once again, doesn’t the responsibility of identifying and relocating any and all burial remains lie with the owner of the cemetery when the property was sold?
They're are it again?
Comrad Elrich and his remarkable leadership skills can solve this.
He'll do it in his spare time when he transitions to his 'at-large' role.
What leadership skills. He's part of the problem
They never stopped. They have been protesting and gotten victories in the courts. The County has been stonewalling and kowtowing to the developers
They have been at it. Not just protesting but even getting victories in the courts. You just haven't been paying attention
Elrich and the Council have been part of the problem by refusing to meet with them in good faith. They have bent over backwards and have kow-towed to the developers.
He is outstanding in his field!
The one true part is that “their politicians don’t care about them” (the voters). If the folks buried there were illegals it may have been different.
Only because this subject comes around like Haley's comet.
Our politicians are a rare selection
Like an assortment of jokers wild
The minute they win the election
Dash into the woodwork and hide.
Why then they keep reelecting him?
Are they gluttons for punishment?
That makes too much sense.
Preposterous!
The building directly behind McD’s is largely finished. Is there another building being built behind that one?
It was my understanding that the issue had to do with the Macedonia church parking lot across from 7-11.
4:05: It's regarding the occupancy permit for the building, which is nearly ready to open. The cemetery issue has never involved the church property on the other side of River Road, 12:17, other than that church building is the only remaining structure from the Black community that existed in that area up until the 1960s.
Is the building next to McDonald’s nearly finished? Really? Looks stalled to me. And ugly. And it’s taken YEARS. Longer than Westbard and a much smaller footprint. They dug a huge hole for a self storage unit. My guess is that it’s not really self storage but a government site of some sort. I really don’t understand the need for 1- another self storage site, 2- the need to dig such a large foundation for said site (the economics don’t work- much easier to set up a bunch of garages on flat ground. And 3- why it’s taken so damn long. Robert, please get to the bottom of this!
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