Montgomery County allowed 15-story Westwood Tower in Bethesda to operate without fire alarms for 2 months

The Montgomery County government and owner Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County allowed residents to occupy the 15-story Westwood Tower apartments for two months without an operating fire alarm system. County officials have now condemned the high-rise building at 5401 Westbard Avenue in Bethesda after an electrical fire brought the existing violations to light this past weekend, and further damaged the building's electrical systems. In lieu of a functioning fire alarm system, HOC had posted signs inside the tower instructing residents to "evacuate and call 911" in case of a fire. The signs did not advise how residents who might be asleep during a fire would be aware one had broken out, nor how their neighbors in the approximately 200 apartments would be notified on more than a dozen floors.

Sign posted inside Westwood Tower after the
building's fire alarm system went down on November 9, 2023;
it was never repaired, and the building was condemned after
a fire on January 6, 2024

After the fire alarm system broke down on November 9, 2023, the HOC stationed personnel in the building lobby to be on-duty in case of a fire. It was unclear how one person could physically cover 15 floors (not to mention without an elevator),and knock on hundreds of doors, in the few seconds that might be needed for all residents to safely evacuate. One resident reported that these employees were sometimes seen dozing off in the lobby. Residents report that the HOC never informed them of a timeline for restoration of the fire alarm system. "Fire officials have repeatedly been called to the building because of the lack of a fire alarm," one resident said, and that the building has been "cited repeatedly because of a lack of fire alarm."

Generator outside the building, which has
no power; residents have been relocated

The insanity of the idea of one person being able to function as a human fire alarm for a 15-story building became clear this past Saturday night, when a transformer blew inside the building. Several residents I spoke to reported that not only were there no fire alarms sounding, but the backup "human fire alarm" in the lobby did not contact any of them. They smelled and saw smoke, and self-evacuated, alerting other residents on their way out of the building. One resident who lives on a floor that did not initially have smoke only learned the building was on fire when a friend who lived on a smoke-filled floor called them to say there was a fire, and to get out. 

Residents report that they were left freezing in the building from 6:00 PM Saturday night, until the building was condemned and evacuated 24 hours later. Power in the building was limited, and there was no heat at all. Security functions to keep non-residents and potential criminals out of the building were inoperable.

To top it off, the HOC initially refused to provide alternative shelter to residents, advising them to instead make a claim on their own apartment insurance to cover the cost of hotel rooms. As the details began to reach the public a day later, Montgomery County agencies announced they were providing off-site shelter. The HOC said the residents were being moved to hotels in the area. Residents were told that they could be displaced from the building for as long as three weeks.

There is concern among residents, given the County's inaction regarding the fire alarm outage in the preceding weeks and the building's ownership being politically affliated with the elected officials who appoint and oversee them, that repairs will be allowed to drag on. Last night, two extremely loud generators roared outside the darkened apartment tower. There was no visible activity at the building. 

Residents of HOC properties have long pointed out issues regarding health and safety in their buildings. Those complaints were backed up by the findings of federal inspections, which found 75% of the units they inspected failed to meet federal standards. It now appears the agency was allowed to violate the County's fire code for two months, by operating a building without functioning smoke and fire alarms to alert occupants.

The HOC acquired the building several years ago with grand plans to construct more buildings and garages on the property. When those plans were stymied by protests that arose when the agency announced it intended to build a parking garage on top of the Moses African Cemetery at the rear of the property - where many of the graves were desecrated during the building's construction in the late 1960s, the HOC then attempted to sell it to a private developer. That sale was temporarily blocked by a Montgomery County court injunction, and the buyer backed out of the transaction. The dispute - that the HOC tried to sell the land with the cemetery without notifying the descendants of those interred there, in violation of Maryland law - will be ruled on by the Maryland Supreme Court later this year.

The County and the HOC are only fortunate that Saturday's fire was not more serious. This could have been a catastrophic disaster, had a fast-moving fire engulfed the building. Elected officials have yet to criticize the situation that existed at the property; in fact, the County Councilmember who represents the area has so far tweeted only praise for County agencies.

Westwood Tower apartments in Bethesda condemned after electrical fire; residents evacuated

A fire Saturday night at the Westwood Tower apartments at 5401 Westbard Avenue in Bethesda caused or revealed major problems with the building's electrical system. Montgomery County condemned the apartment building yesterday, and is assisting residents with relocation until the electrical system can be repaired and brought up to code. The building had only partial power after the fire, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Pete Piringer. All residents had been evacuated by 8:00 PM last night, Piringer said. Westwood Tower is owned and operated by the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission, which will be defending itself in an unrelated lawsuit regarding the cemetery on the property this morning at the Maryland Supreme Court in Annapolis.

Maryland Supreme Court to hear case on sale of Moses African Cemetery on January 8, 2024

Maryland's Supreme Court is now scheduled to hear the case regarding the attempted sale of a Bethesda property containing Moses African Cemetery on January 8, 2024. The case of Dr. Olusegun Adebayo and the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC) vs. the Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County (HOC) centers on the HOC's alleged violation of a state law that requires descendants of those buried in a cemetery to be notified of the potential sale of that land. 

A Montgomery County judge granted an injunction against the sale of the Westwood Tower property to Charger Ventures, but was overruled by an appeals court decision. Charger Ventures then withdrew its purchase offer. Adebayo and BACC have appealed to the state's highest court now, which will have the final say, unless the plaintiffs seek a further appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court following this ruling.

"This is the first time that a state supreme court is being asked to limit the power of developers and state agencies regarding the selling and desecration of African burial grounds and our ancestors," BACC said in a statement Monday. "The decision by the Maryland Supreme Court will have national and perhaps, international ramifications. The court will decide whether Black bodies can be sold to private or public agecies and the land laundered for non-burial purposes without oversight by the court or descendant families. BACC is on the front lines of fighting for both the living and our ancestors. Please plan to join BACC on January 8th and by your presence declare: Black Bodies are Not for Sale! People over Profit!"

BACC is organizing bus transportation to the Supreme Court in Annapolis for the January 8 hearing. To get a sense of how many people are interesting in riding the bus, BACC has created an online form at bit.ly/baccbus. If you cannot attend, but want to help fund the bus trip and other efforts by BACC, an online donation portal has also been created.

Maryland Supreme Court to hear appeal in Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition case

Maryland's Supreme Court yesterday agreed to hear the appeal of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition to overturn a state appellate court ruling regarding the sale of property that includes a major portion of Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. The June ruling itself overturned an injunction by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Karla Smith, that froze the impending sale of Westwood Tower at 5401 Westbard Avenue to Charger Ventures. Charger Ventures withdrew its purchase offer following Smith's ruling, but Westwood Tower owner Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County appealed to the higher court and won. 

The Supreme Court's ultimate ruling in this case will have local and national implications for Black cemeteries, many of which are today in states of desecration and disrepair, hidden, or under threat from development. Moses African Cemetery is in all three categories. 

Smith ruled that HOC had entered a sale agreement without notifying the descendants of those buried in the cemetery, and without giving them a chance to weigh in on the sale, as required under Maryland law. Inexplicably, the appellate court found that following the law was not necessary.

This is a common occurrance when citizens challenge developers and powerful real estate interests in any Montgomery County or Maryland court. BACC noted yesterday that the Maryland Supreme Court only accepts about 15% of the certiorari petitions filed. But residents win over developers in our courts at an even lower rate than that, with judges blatantly ignoring statutory requirements on developers and planning authorities, as in the Westbard case. Smith, a relatively recent appointee to the Circuit Court in 2015, was a rare exception in ruling that the laws actually do apply to developers in Montgomery County.

Photo courtesy Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition

Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition to rally at Maryland Court of Appeals October 6

Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition will hold a rally outside the Maryland Court of Appeals at 361 Rowe Boulevard in Annapolis this Thursday, October 6, 2022 at 8:00 AM. The state's highest court will be hearing an appeal by the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission of the decision by Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Karla Smith that blocked the agency's sale of the Westwood Tower property to development firm Charger Ventures. Smith issued the injunction after agreeing that HOC had failed to properly notify descendants of those buried in the Moses African Cemetery, which is hidden under the Westwood Tower property after being desecrated by construction workers in the late 1960s, of the sale.

"Black bodies are not for sale," BACC said in a press release announcing the rally. It said the appeals court will "decide whether black bodies can sold to developers without permission from families." The case is Dr. Abiose Adebayo v. Housing Opportunities Commission of Montgomery County.

M-NCPPC-held parcel of Moses African Cemetery becoming a neglected "dump," advocates say

Trash and junk are starting to pile up on a government-owned parcel of the Moses African Cemetery behind the Westwood Tower apartments in Bethesda. A discarded mattress, pipes and rolls of toilet paper litter the ground above the graves. The parcel was hurriedly acquired from a private landowner by the Maryland-National Capital Park & Planning Commission in 2017, chiefly to prevent any archaeological study of the cemetery, most of which is under the rear parking lot and side driveway of Westwood Tower.

The Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission owns the Westwood Tower portion of the cemetery; M-NCPPC holds the parcel between that and a private property now being developed as a self-storage facility behind the McDonald's on River Road. Neither government entity will meet with leaders of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition, the group says. “It’s no surprise that Parks & Planning still won't recognize the Black Community of Bethesda,” BACC President Marcia Coleman-Adebayo said in a statement. “It was established to make places like Bethesda white.”

BACC continues to seek restoration and memorialization of the cemetery, which was desecrated during the construction of Westwood Tower in the late 1960s. "Ownership, or meaningful control in another form, are the only ways to ensure that the voices of the descendant community are incorporated in the outcome," County Executive Marc Elrich said in urging the two bodies to meet with cemetery advocates.

Photos courtesy Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition

Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II to Montgomery County officials: "Quit trying to sell this property" containing black cemetery

The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign and a civil rights activist with national influence, excoriated Montgomery County officials yesterday while celebrating a court victory by advocates for the desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. After the court granted advocates an injunction blocking the sale of the Westwood Tower property that contains the cemetery, Bethesda investment firm Charger Ventures withdrew its $51 million offer to purchase it from the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission. "Quit trying to sell this property," Barber admonished County officials in a statement on Tuesday.

Barber called on the County to turn the cemetery property over "to those who want to preserve it," describing the now-scuttled sale agreement as "illegal." He praised Charger Ventures for walking away from the deal with the HOC. "We are heartened by this company’s decision, which is a victory for all who organized to honor their ancestors there and prevent the exploitation of their ancestors for economic gain," Barber said. "The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival has been honored to stand with those who stood for justice, and we say with them, ‘forward together, not one step back!'’’

Investment firm withdraws offer to buy Westwood Tower after judge issues cemetery injunction

Advocates for the desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda have scored two victories in the long-running fight to restore and memorialize the burial ground, which is located on the site of the Westwood Tower apartments. First, Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Karla Smith granted a preliminary injunction blocking the sale of Westwood Tower to Bethesda investment firm Charger Ventures, after landowner Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission failed to alert descendants of those buried in the cemetery of the proposed sale. And on Friday, plaintiff Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition announced that Charger Ventures had withdrawn its $50 million purchase offer.

Tavis Smiley weighs in on Bethesda cemetery controversy

Broadcaster Tavis Smiley is the latest prominent figure to weigh in on the controversy over the desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. He interviewed the Rev. Dr. Segun Adebayo, pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church on River Road, and Dr. Marcia Coleman Adebayo, head of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition on KTLA in Los Angeles. Both organizations are among the plaintiffs suing Montgomery County's Housing Opportunities Commission over the HOC's intent to sell the Westwood Tower property that includes the majority of the cemetery site to Charger Ventures. The suit alleges the HOC did not inform the descendants of those buried there - some of whom are also plantiffs in the case - of their its intent to sell as required by law.

Like many locally and nationally who hear of the cemetery history and more recent fight over it, Smiley was stunned that the County, HOC and other parties would persist in attempting to further develop the property after knowing a black cemetery was on the site. "Why are they continuing to plow forward, to push forward with their plans anyway, although they know now full well it is a burial ground?" Smiley asked. "Once you discover that, that should be the end of these things, to me."

"What is the government of Montgomery County saying or doing about this?" Smiley queried Coleman Adebayo. She accused County Executive Marc Elrich of writing letters urging others to ignore Coleman Adebayo, and "calling me all kind of vicious names." Elrich was previously one of the only elected officials to support cemetery advocates when he was on the County Council in 2017 and 2018, when the now decade-long controversy boiled over in multiple protests that garnered media attention.

Montgomery County's government has "locked arms with the developer against the community. We don't have one member of the County Council that has stood up to say this is wrong to sell the bodies of these Africans. We do not have friends in local government."

Coleman Adebayo said the County was trying to "erase not only the youth, but the ancestors of black people." Noting that "developers literally run Montgomery County," she recalled the history of the black community on River Road that was founded by former slaves from the Loughborough plantation. That community "basically was wiped out through developers and the coalition between developers and local government" by the late 1960s, and the only remnants left are the church and the cemetery.

"Montgomery County has been clear about the fact that it will control black bodies, both alive and dead," Coleman Adebayo added. She said Maryland ranks number one in America in the incarceration of young black men. The desecration of the cemetery during the construction of Westwood Tower in the late 1960s, and the belligerence of the County government in blocking all efforts to conduct investigations or restore it, are an extension of that racial bias, she argued. "This is a hate crime. We're talking about criminal activity."

Smiley praised the Adebayos' success in winning a temporary restraining order against the sale. A possible preliminary injunction against it is being argued in a Montgomery County Circuit Courtroom today. Their initial victory was remarkable, Smiley said, because "communities of color rarely prevail in court fights with multimillion dollar corporations."

Coleman Adebayo first came to prominence as a whistleblower who fought the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and won. That was also how Smiley first became aware of her activism and historic victory over the EPA. "I feel sorry for the folks and the developers who are trying to take over this cemetery," Smiley said. "She's in the history book. She is a warrior."

Smiley said the Moses African Cemetery battle is "one of those David vs. Goliath fights," and is "starting to make bigger news on the national scene." As the segment concluded, Smiley told listeners, "This is a fight that all of us have a vested interest in, whether our ancestors were buried in this plot or not, whether you've ever been to Maryland or Bethesda or not. If they can do it to them, they can do it to you, they can do it to us, so I am pulling and praying for your success on Monday and beyond, as you fight to save this precious and sacred burial ground."

Photo via Twitter

Court hearing scheduled in Moses African Cemetery sale dispute

A court hearing has been scheduled in the dispute over the proposed sale of Westwood Tower and the Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition has sued the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission, alleging the HOC failed to notify the descendants of those buried in the cemetery before reaching a sale agreement with Bethesda-based Charger Ventures.

Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Karla Smith will consider whether to grant a preliminary injunction stopping the sale at a hearing Monday, September 27, 2021 at 9:30 AM in Courtroom 4H, at 50 Maryland Avenue in Rockville. 

Poor People's Campaign leaders call for Bethesda cemetery to be turned over to Macedonia Baptist Church

The Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II 

The leaders of the Poor People's Campaign, a national organization that declares its dedication to finishing the work begun by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., are calling for Montgomery County to relinquish control of the Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda to the nearby Macedonia Baptist Church. Co-chairs the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II and the Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis, will speak via Zoom to a rally this Friday, September 10, 2021 at 11:00 AM at the church, which is located at 5119 River Road in Bethesda. The rally will be live streamed on the Maryland Poor People's Campaign Facebook page, for those who can't attend.

Dr. Liz Theoharis

Several past members of the church are buried in the cemetery. Some of their descendants are expected to be in attendance at the rally on Friday. Also backing the demand are the leaders of the Maryland Poor People’s Campaign chapter. "We stand solidly behind the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition's struggle to end the continued desecration of Moses Macedonia African Cemetery,” Rabbi Alana Suskin and the Rev. Angela Martin, co-chairs of the Maryland State Poor People's Campaign, said in a statement.

The cemetery, which was desecrated in the late 1960s during construction of the Westwood Tower apartments, was split into two parcels in recent deals related to the redevelopment of 22 acres in the Westbard area of Bethesda. One larger parcel remains in the hands of the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission, which recently attempted to sell Westwood Tower and the cemetery to a private capital investment firm, prompting a lawsuit after the church and descendants were not alerted to the sale as required by law. A smaller parcel was already acquired by the County, which has fought tooth and nail to prevent any archaeological study of the cemetery by renowned experts in the field of African-American cemeteries.

“One of my most sacred duties is committing the souls of the deceased, and ensuring the sanctity of their burial ground,” the Rev. Dr. Segun Adebayo, pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church, said Monday. “Because of the County, we can’t do that now at our Moses African Cemetery.”

Descendants of those buried in Bethesda cemetery file suit against Montgomery County HOC to block land sale

Descendants of those buried in Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda filed suit against the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission yesterday. The suit aims to block the HOC's sale of Westwood Tower at 5401 Westbard Avenue, the property on which nearly all of the cemetery is located. Earlier this summer, the HOC voted to approve the sale of the property to Charger Ventures of Bethesda.

Among the plaintiffs in the suit are descendants Darold Cuba, Nanette Hunter and Montani Wallace. The other plaintiffs are the Rev. Segun Adebayo, Pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church; and the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition (BACC). 

“It is immoral, disrespectful and unconscionable for the County to allow the sale of remains of kidnapped Africans or freed African-Americans” BACC President Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo said in a statement yesterday. “The County is participating in the trafficking of human remains in Moses Macedonia African Cemetery. The proposed 'sale' of the bodies of our ancestors, along with a building, is being treated as though they were just other inanimate objects. Our ancestors were human and they deserve dignity. This proposed 'sale' continues the County’s long history of not considering Black people as human.”

The plaintiffs are represented by Steven Lieberman, Jenny Colgate, D. Lawson Allen and Kristen Logan of Rothwell, Figg, Ernst & Manbeck, P.C., and Jennifer Semko of Baker & McKenzie. "In a beloved community where many profess to be liberal and progressive, the sale of human bodies, dead or alive isreprehensible and must be resisted by all those who believe in justice and truth," David Ward of the Engage Beloved Communities Pathway to Racial Justice at River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation said in the BACC statement. "For this to be happening in Montgomery County in the 21st century flies in the face of who we claim to be."

Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition condemns sale of Westwood Tower that conveys cemetery to investment firm

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition has condemned the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission's approval of the sale of Westwood Tower to a Bethesda real estate investment firm last Thursday. Moses African Cemetery lies beneath the side driveway and rear parking lot of the apartment tower property, which is located at 5401 Westbard Avenue. The cemetery was desecrated during the construction of the apartment tower in the late 1960s.

Remains encountered within the footprint of the apartment tower by construction workers were illegally relocated into a mass grave elsewhere on the property, according to witnesses at the time. Montgomery County, which until now has owned the entire cemetery via HOC and the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission, has vigorously blocked all attempts by cemetery advocates to conduct archaeological investigation of the site.

Now, the County only retains the M-NCPPC (a state-chartered organization) parcel of the cemetery between Westwood Tower and the site of a self-storage building now under construction behind the McDonald's on River Road. BACC and the Macedonia Baptist Church at 5119 River Road were not contacted by HOC prior to the sale agreement being approved last week, the coalition said in a statement. 

"Black people and their ancestors are back on the auction block,” BACC President Dr. Marsha Adebayo said in the statement. “How does Montgomery County allow one of its agencies to sell off Black Dead Bodies without consulting the church that sanctified the ground in which our ancestors lie?" MBC Pastor Segun Adebayo asked. "The County has shown that it does not respect Black people either dead or alive. I call upon leaders of the faith community and people of conscience across the region to condemn this evil act, and to call upon the County Executive and County Council to put an end to this hateful plan." 

County Executive Marc Elrich, while still on the County Council, was one of the few elected officials to lend support to advocates for the Moses cemetery. But the BACC criticized Elrich in its statement for failing to fulfill his promise to resolve the cemetery issue. "We will remember this in the upcoming election," Robert Stubblefield of United Front for Justice said.

While the sale represents yet another transfer of the cemetery property, there could be a bright spot in the acquisition of Westwood Tower by Bethesda real estate investment firm Charger Ventures. Now that the property is out of Montgomery County's hands, it is always possible that the new private owner might consider working with BACC, and allow an archaeological investigation to finally be conducted at the site.

Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition seeks hate crimes charges against HOC

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition has filed an official request with the office of Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy asking him to investigate hate crimes by the County Housing Opportunities Commission in the ongoing desecration of the Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. "We are confident that the results of your investigation will result in criminal charges against HOC, [HOC Chair] Jackie Simon, [HOC Executive Director] Stacy Spann, and HOC’s entire Board of Directors," BACC President Marsha Coleman-Adebayo wrote in the letter, which was hand-delivered to McCarthy's Judicial Center office in Rockville.

BACC letter stamped "RECEIVED" by
MoCo State's Attorney's office

Grave markers in the Moses African Cemetery were bulldozed by at some point in the 1950s, after the property changed hands from the African-American fraternal organization that founded it. The graves themselves were then desecrated in the late 1960s by construction workers excavating for the Westwood Tower apartment building on Westbard Avenue.

According to witness accounts, initial remains discovered were illegally relocated and reburied in a different black cemetery near the Howard County line by the building's architect, indicating the builders knew full well they were disturbing a black cemetery. After that, bodies located in the footprint of the future building were illegally relocated into a nearby mass grave. Fill dirt was allegedly brought in and dumped atop the cemetery. Graves that were under the planned parking lot area were left in place, and the asphalt lot was placed on top of them.

"The desecration of Moses African Cemetery will be considered among the most egregious, callous, and racist in US history," Coleman-Adebayo wrote to McCarthy. " It is therefore incumbent upon you, as the chief law enforcement officer in Montgomery County, to protect Moses African Cemetery and to bring criminal charges against any and all of the parties who have knowingly participated in the desecration," the letter concludes.

Montgomery County drops all charges against cemetery protesters

The Montgomery County State's Attorney's office has dropped all charges against seven protesters who were arrested during peaceful protests at the County Housing Opportunities Commission in Kensington. Protesters were advocating for the restoration and commemoration of an African-American cemetery on the site of HOC's Westwood Tower apartments in Bethesda when they were arrested.

Initially, the State's Attorney's office were seeking a deal that would require the seven to never again protest at the HOC. After the defendants stood their ground, all charges were dropped anyway. “We were adamant in our rejection of this plea,” said Dr. Laurel Hoa of Showing Up for Racial Justice - Montgomery County (SURJ). “Plea bargains have become the instrument of choice for DA’s intent on incarcerating black people for minor offenses. We felt it was imperative to reject that offer, particularly since accepting it would have been to relinquish our 1st Amendment rights and would further entrench this odious practice by DA’s across the country.”

In related news, County Executive Marc Elrich joined cemetery advocates led by the sole remaining cemetery stakeholder Macedonia Baptist Church at Westwood Tower last week. Elrich was there to observe an engineering study of the feasibility of replacing the current vehicle access to the rear of the building over the gravesites with another access or parking solution.

“Both Macedonia and HOC have requested that Mr. Elrich set a date for a meeting between us, the County, and Regency Group, the developer implementing the Westbard Sector Plan, to begin the final negotiations toward a long overdue resolution to this impasse,” said Rev. Dr. Segun Adebayo, Pastor of MBC. “We are hopeful that Mr. Elrich will seize this opportunity post haste.”

3 cemetery protesters arrested at HOC meeting

Three citizens protesting the stonewalling of the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission on the desecration of the Moses African Cemetery on the Westwood Tower property in Bethesda were arrested at the commission's monthly meeting this week. Town of Somerset Mayor Jeffrey Slavin, and Macedonia Baptist Church Pastor Rev. Segun Adebayo were among those issued citations by Montgomery County police for refusing to leave the public meeting.

Protesters knelt at the front of the commission dais holding crocheted tombstones bearing flowers of African nations, and the names of several ancestors known to be buried in the cemetery, which was desecrated in the late 1960s during construction of Westwood Tower. Contrary to rumors being circulated by the Montgomery County cartel, the cemetery was never relocated prior to the 1960s construction. Those rumors are just that - there is not a single official document of evidence for any such relocation, which requires a formal public process overseen by the State of Maryland. In contrast, the cemetery is shown in land records and burial announcements, as well as in the similar public process that was required to establish it in the beginning.

The Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition leading the effort to restore the sanctity of the cemetery and establish a memorial and museum on the site will be meeting with Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, one of the few County elected officials to offer support for the cause. Slavin has also been engaged on the issue in recent years.

Among notable figures testifying in support of the Moses Cemetery were the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, and Robin Ficker.

With hundreds of affordable units standing vacant, does MoCo actually have a housing "crisis?"

Ability to lose 162

units, low demand at

Halpine View raise new 

questions about MoCo's 

supposed affordable 

housing "crisis"

How serious is the affordable housing "crisis" in Montgomery County? We've been hearing off-and-on about the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission's development plans for the Ambassador Apartments in Wheaton since 2012. At one point, it was said that a new building would be constructed on another part of the property, allowing current residents of the Ambassador to remain in their homes. But now, the building - a former Best Western hotel at the corner of Veirs Mill Road and University Boulevard - has been shut down and fenced off. Businesses in the ground floor have also been vacated.

Residents have supposedly been relocated by the HOC to other properties around the county. However, the HOC declined to respond to media inquiries made earlier this week by press time. From what I can find in County documents, it appears the building will be demolished at a cost of up to $1.5 million, a cost that will be picked up by County taxpayers. HOC has previously requested the funds from the County Council for that purpose.

Demolition was to have begun this year, and construction of the new development was to break ground in 2019. It appears that would still be possible if demolition occurs soon.

The loss of 162 low-income housing units near Metro - and the apparent ability of the HOC to find that many vacant units for the departing tenants - raises questions about just how serious the affordable housing "crisis" is in Montgomery County. Last year, the owners of Halpine View in Rockville off Veirs Mill Road stated that demand for their affordable apartments was declining, and that they had a substantial number of vacancies.

Beggars cannot be choosers, as they say. A modest, older apartment at Halpine View or the Ambassador would beat being homeless any day of the week. There should not be vacancies at Halpine View, and it should not have been possible to find vacant homes for 162 families before closing the Ambassador. Dogged apartment hunters would surely have found these affordable gems in their desperate housing searches. What is going on here?

County residents are being told we must now throw traditional, common-sense zoning rules out the window to address a housing "crisis," a move that will destroy existing single-family home neighborhoods. It appears further study of just what is going on here is clearly needed before making such irresponsible planning and fiscal decisions, especially with the County facing a structural budget deficit every year as far out at the forecasts go. More transparency is also needed. How many vacant affordable apartments are there countywide as of today? Taxpayers and homeowners deserve to know before accepting the new onerous costs, and reduced quality of life, that would come with adding multifamily urban housing within residential SFH neighborhoods.

MoCo NAACP grapples with Moses African Cemetery issue

Montgomery County Councilmember Craig Rice (D - District 2) and County Housing Opportunities Commission Executive Director Stacy Spann appeared at last night's meeting of the Montgomery County NAACP chapter at Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Rockville, to discuss affordable housing and the ongoing controversy over the desecrated Moses African Cemetery in Bethesda. Their comments aligned with a new narrative County officials debuted this fall, which attempts to downplay the status of Macedonia Baptist Church as the sole contemporary party to the cemetery so far, and tie the specific story of these graves to a more general narrative about black cemeteries countywide. Under this narrative, there may be an effort to memorialize the cemetery, but the potential remains for bodies to be removed for development under existing Maryland law, or for a sham study to declare no remains exist due to the extreme depth at which many of the graves now lie - far beyond the range of ground penetrating radar.

Something will likely be done to memorialize the cemetery, Rice told attendees, which included representatives of Macedonia Baptist Church and their supporters, as well as members of the NAACP chapter. What that will be, whether everyone will agree on its adequacy, and who will pay for it, were subjects of disagreement in the room. There were also more-fundamental disagreements between the version of events so far given by Rice and Spann, and the church's version. That led to the NAACP announcing near the end of the meeting that it would appoint two mediators from its membership to meet with Macedonia and the HOC. to see if the parties can reach an agreement among themselves and developer Regency Centers on how to proceed.

One new detail that came to light is that Regency Centers had expressed some openness to the possibility of giving HOC an easement across part of its Bowlmor site, to access the rear parking garage of Westwood Tower. Currently, drivers pass over the parking lot to the side and rear of the building, that was laid atop the intact graves outside of the Westwood Tower footprint. That asphalt is believed to rest on top of as much as 60' of fill dirt dumped on the graves by the builder of Westwood Tower in the late 1960s, who also desecrated the cemetery.

However, when Macedonia Baptist Church officials took the potential offer to HOC, they say HOC declined to respond. That is at least one point NAACP officials hope their mediation can resolve.

"This is something that deeply touches my soul, what happened to our people," Macedonia Baptist Church Pastor Segun Adebayo told attendees after Rice and Spann spoke.

Rice had suggested taxpayers would pick up the tab for whatever memorial might be erected on, or near, the site. Adebayo sharply disputed that, saying his church has sought no money, and would raise any such funds from private donors itself.

Macedonia Baptist Church Social Justice Ministry Chair Marsha Coleman Adebayo reminded attendees of just how far cemetery advocates had come on their own over the last two years. "It took two years for the County to acknowledge it was a cemetery," she said, holding up a County map of the two graveyard parcels. She noted the church and their supporters had used public pressure - through marches, rallies and other actions - to temporarily stop Montgomery County, Regency and HOC from building a parking garage on top of the cemetery.

"Everything that we've gained so far, we've gained because we had the courage to go into the street and fight for it," Coleman Adebayo said. She added that 18 American University students are now researching the cemetery, and the vanished black community that existed around it from the end of the Civil War to the 1960s. They are collecting oral histories, and any remaining physical artifacts, she said. Such materials could be archived and displayed in the museum church officials envision being constructed at the site one day.

Cemetery advocates shut down HOC meeting again (Video)

Bethesda resident Lynn Pekkanen
testifies at HOC on behalf of Montgomery County
Councilmember-elect Andrew Friedson,
who was stuck in traffic

Advocates for the preservation and memorialization of the desecrated Moses African Cemetery descended on the monthly meeting of the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission, to protest the HOC's revived plan to develop new building atop the Moses African Cemetery on the Westwood Tower site in Bethesda. For the second time in a year, protesters successfully shut down the meeting, as HOC commissioners hastily voted to adjourn and retreat into a nearby sealed room to escape chanting activists who outshouted HOC Chair Jackie Simon.

This was the biggest turnout yet at the HOC to preserve the cemetery. The crowd of protesters exceeded the fire code capacity of the meeting room, forcing two HOC employees to bar the doors, letting additional attendees enter as others left one-by-one.

Protesters also brought more power behind their cause in the form of County Executive-elect Marc Elrich, the only County Councilmember who has stood in solidarity with Macedonia Baptist Church and the descendant community in the cemetery fight.  Elrich indicated that the cemetery is high on his very busy agenda by making his speaking appearance for the cause his first official action as County Executive-elect. The next executive struck a tone of cooperation with HOC in resolving the issue, but there's no doubt Elrich has the power to replace every commissioner currently on the board when their terms end.

As successive speakers took jabs at the HOC, the tone quickly became more combative, concluding in shouts of "Give us the land! Give us the land!" that drowned out Simon's attempt to read a legal statement about the HOC's new cemetery redevelopment effort. The HOC is attempting to minimize the church's status as the sole existing party to the cemetery by creating a blue ribbon commission on the graveyard with stakeholders who don't actually have any direct connection to the graves.

Outshouted and losing control of the meeting, commissioners hastily voted to adjourn and fled the room. Protesters were asked to leave. But at the same time as protesters and HOC security and officials argued over whether or not Macedonia Baptist Church Social Justice Ministry Chair Marsha Coleman-Adebayo had been threatened with arrest by the HOC, MBC trustee Harvey Matthews and HOC Director Stacy Spann had a more quiet and cordial discussion on the other side of the room.

Fresh off victory, Elrich to support Moses African Cemetery at HOC today

Montgomery County Executive-elect Marc Elrich
greets the Rev. Segun Adebayo of
Macedonia Baptist Church in 2017

Less than 24 hours after prevailing over a $1 million effort by developers to stop him from becoming Montgomery County Executive, Marc Elrich will make one of his first appearances as County Executive-Elect this afternoon at a meeting of the Montgomery County Housing Opportunities Commission. According to leaders at Macedonia Baptist Church in Bethesda, Elrich will be there to stand in solidarity with advocates for the preservation and restoration of the desecrated Moses African Cemetery. The cemetery is located on the site of Westwood Tower on Westbard Avenue, which was purchased by the HOC from developer Regency Centers.

HOC officials had claimed publicly that they were tabling any potential development on the cemetery site, which is largely buried under asphalt and 60' of fill dirt since it was desecrated in the late 1960s by the Westwood Tower construction team. That claim was met with great skepticism by cemetery advocates. Their concerns were legitimate, as HOC is now moving forward with a new plan to consider redevelopment options for the site.

In a letter to Macedonia Baptist Church, HOC's Executive Director Stacy Spann outlines a plan to form an advisory board of "stakeholders from the wider community" to explore these options. “This is a cynical move by HOC to grab power by forming a sham advisory board that will kick MBC to the curb,” the Rev. Dr. Segun Adebayo, Pastor of MBC, said Tuesday. “But for the efforts of our church, a parking garage and apartments would already be standing atop Moses Cemetery with the blessings of those very same so-called stakeholders. Macedonia will not allow HOC’s $20 million conflict of interest dictate the fate of our ancestors. If HOC had any credibility it would recuse itself from the process.”

Elrich now has considerable leverage over the HOC, as the County Executive appoints the board's commissioners.