Friends of Mt. Auburn Cemetery – Baltimore, MD

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Friends of Mt. Auburn Cemetery – Baltimore, MD

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=129040330475035&ref=ts

Dear Mayor Rawlings-Blake,

Mount Auburn Cemetery was designated a Historic Landmark in Baltimore City in 1986 and was additionally designated a Historic Site in 2001 on the National Register of Historic Places. This historically significant landmark is privately controlled under the auspicious of the Baltimore-Washington Conference of The United Methodist Church. In fiscal year 2010, the Baltimore City Department of Transportation was appropriated funding for the Mt. Auburn Cemetery – Perimeter Rehabilitation Project (TR07025). Expenditure of this funding is contingent upon the Sharp Street Church concurrently improving the interior grounds of the Mt. Auburn Cemetery which have deteriorated since 1986.

We the citizens of Baltimore City are extremely concerned about the use of tax dollars to subsidize improvement of this privately controlled enterprise and are skeptical as to whether the required concurrent improvements of the interior grounds of the Mt. Auburn Cemetery will be undertaken.

This petition serves to inform you and other members of the city administration that we are asking that funding for TR07025 be withheld – frozen until definitive plans, funding sources and schedules are publically presented which outline the concurrent improvements of the interior grounds of the Mt. Auburn Cemetery.

We won’t stand for the frivolous disbursement of tax dollars without concrete returns for this taxpayer investment – specifically an improvement in the caretaking of our deceased ancestors.

Please inform the community and neighbors of this historically significant landmark the date, place and time for the public presentation of the Church’s concurrent plans.

Your prompt attention to this matter is appreciated since the TR07025 project is scheduled to begin in September 2010.

“divide and conquer”

To Whom It May Concern:

It is of paramount importance that the African American communities in South Baltimore stick together. Too long we have been misguided by agendas that do not serve the masses well. Black folk’s sense of compassion is an innate particle of our souls. It stems from times of slavery. But we now days, it seems that we have lost the ability to shed a tear or cringe at the sight of witnessing the oppression of our fellow man. Is that something to be proud of???

Recently, we have allowed various entities to divide us. This has the potential to create chaos and confusion. It is now time to rejoin each other in pursuit of our rights; in pursuit of mitigating potentially adverse events that affect our communities; in pursuit of securing a safe place to live; in pursuit of providing a good future for the generations that will follow; in pursuit of securing our equity and investments in our communities.

The more we stand divided, that more we’ll be forced to surrender to the lash of the whip, intentionally or unintentionally created by City leaders and municipal entities, Developers, and other parties. The facts are— our communities will undergo some form of transformation and our concerns are being ignored, overlooked or not properly addressed. The only realistic way to tackle this problem is with a united front. Linda Towe of Project TOOUR took the initiative to create a coalition of community leaders and not many people responded to this call. This is both a shame and an embarrassment for the black race and our ancestors, who have fought so hard for things we now have.

According to Wikipedia, the phenomenon of “divide and conquer” is very real. It reads, “In politics and sociology, divide and rule (derived from Latin divide et impera) (also known as divide and conquer) is a combination of political, military and economic strategy of gaining and maintaining power by breaking up larger concentrations of power into chunks that individually have less power than the one implementing the strategy. In reality, it often refers to a strategy where small power groups are prevented from linking up and becoming more powerful, since it is difficult to break up existing power structures.”

If we ignore this call, are we carrying on the legacy of those valiant people who fought so much for equal rights, opportunities and a chance to be heard? Or are we succumbing to the lash of the brutal whip?

We must listen to our conscience. We must leave past quarrels behind. We must come to the table unselfishly. We must remain focused on the things that will benefit us all. We must allow ourselves to absorb valuable information. We must set aside personal agendas. We must agree to disagree (without harboring ill feelings). We must come with open ears, open hearts and open minds. We must eliminate prejudgments. How many times have we been wrong about things we assumed? We must never give up. WE MUST UNITE…

I’ll bet all of you heard, at least once, a community activist with years of experience say “strength is with numbers”. Do we want to still ignore the call? Do we want to experience generational devastation? Do we want to deal with the emotional attachments of defeat?

Regards,
James Alston

BRAC

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