A renewed concern with heavy truck traffic across the Chester River Bridge onto Maple Avenue- Washington Avenue (Rt. 213) was addressed by concerned residents at last week’s Town Council and County Commissioners meetings.

Representatives of the State Highway Administration and Maryland Department of Transportation were on hand at Tuesday’s County Commissioners meeting to present the annual Consolidation Transportation Program for 2023. After their presentation, Several Chestertown residents used SHA’s presence as an opportunity to talk about the dangers of increased truck traffic across the Chester River Bridge.

Chestertown resident Michael McDowell attended both meetings to appeal to the town council and county commissioners to reexamine the studies and proposals made in 2015.

Although the original studies and proposal made by the Chestertown Community Task Force included a long-term goal of a Bypass connecting Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties east of the Chester River Bridge, it also stated in the 2015 Comprehensive Plan:

“Two earlier versions of the Chestertown Comprehensive Plan anticipated the construction of, and supported, the Bypass. That did not occur, but significant new development outside the Town, in both Kent and Queen Anne’s counties, did occur, bringing more and more traffic. The result:

• Town residents who must travel Washington Avenue face worsening delays.

• Vehicular connection between neighborhoods is more difficult and less safe.

• Bicycle and pedestrian traffic is increasingly dangerous.

• Traffic problems may have negative consequences for the Historic District, economic development, retail vitality and housing values.

• Congestion has negative physical and aesthetic impacts on Chestertown’s Historic District, especially the waterfront and Washington Avenue.”

McDowell wonders why the increase in traffic, safety, and speed issues were not detached from the overall proposal and considered on their own merit and feels that is time for reconsideration, but all meetings and proposals ended.

The 2015 Comprehensive plan cited that 13,800 vehicles cross the Chester River daily, often without reducing their speed to the 25mph limit. Until a Bypass was added, the plan called for traffic-calming techniques like speed cameras and truck-re-routes enforced by law

McDowell says that many semis routed through Chestertown simply avoid tolls and weigh stations on Rt. 301.

McDowell wants to see a new coordinated effort between the Town of Chestertown, Washington Avenue, and Maple Avenue residents’ groups to approach the SHA with further plans to make the Rt 213 entrance into the Town safer.

The Spy interviewed Mr. McDowell and in the coming weeks will follow up with Councilman Tom Herz and others who also participated in the meetings.

This video is approximately six minutes in length. To read the 2015 Town of Chestertown Comprehensive Plan, go here.

The placement of a memorial plaque honoring Charlie Graves, longtime owner of the regionally famous Uptown Club, and decades-long leader of Chestertown’s Black community, became the focal point for a heated challenge to the town council to do better by their 2020 pledge to implement the 16-month plan described in the Chestertown Unites Against Racism and Equity Advisory Committee resolutions.

The plaque was initially planned for installation on Calvert St. and to be unveiled during the Juneteenth celebration weekend. However, it was not installed until September 6 at an alternative area on College Avenue

At the September 6 town council meeting, Mayor David Foster described the trajectory of trying to contact the tenant and owner of the house currently located on the site of Charlie Graves’ Uptown Club.

It was also discovered that the Town boundaries extended into part of the property and would allow the Town to place the plaque within those parameters.

“It has actually been my policy since I have been Mayor that if there were any projects and I get opposition, no matter how they vote, race, color, or creed, and if they wanted to meet with me, I would,” Foster says. “One area of disagreement was that that the owner and tenant wanted the sign to be on a podium low to the ground…some people thought this would be disrespectful.”

Foster met with Community organizer John Queen, Karen Somerville, Reverend Brown, and others who persuaded Foster that the ground-level plaque was not what the community wanted. Eventually, a compromise was met and the sign was placed around the corner on College Avenue. Foster also called attention to the fact that town council meetings only met every two weeks and that, according to meeting laws, more than two council members could not meet between council sessions, prolonging a faster outcome.

Community organizer John Queen, who co-authored the 16 month plan with former Mayor Chris Cerino and worked with the Equity Advisory Committee impugned the Council’s process to have the plaque placed by Juneteenth or in a timely fashion after acknowledging the tenet’s disagreement saying that the Council was no longer upholding the articles of Chestertown Unites Against Racism and that it was the Equity Advisory Committee’s to hold the Council accountable.

“The plan Chestertown Unites Against Racism came in 202, and the goal was to help the Black community be empowered and for the whole community to move forward,” Queen says.
Queen described the interactive function of the 15-month plan and the Equity Advisory Committee, saying that the EAC holds legislature power to handle some issues of race within the community and highlighted the Education Pillar, which states, “educate the community about its history pertaining to race relations” as an underlying principle mandating the placement of the commemorative plaque.

Life-long resident and musical artist and local historian Karen Somerville, and Monica Graves, daughter of Charlie Graves, also addressed the Council about the plaque.

As part of the Chestertown Unites Against Racism plan, Somerville, with John Queen and Cindy Fulton, supervised the first historical plaque at the foot of Cannon Street. The Charlie Graves-Uptown Club plaque is the second marker, and a third is planned for pioneering educator Emma Miller to be placed at Garnett School. Sommerville was assisted with fellowships from Heartland Institute at Washington College.

Monica Graves spoke about her father’s role as a community leader and the importance of the Black community commemorating their leaders.

“It was an entertainment club and work environment for the uptown community and African Americans in Kent County. It provided jobs and acceptance for all the communities in Chestertown and around Chestertown. He was instrumental in bringing all community members together,” Graves says.

Graves met with the tenet but found now agreement could be made and recommended the sign be placed around the corner on College Avenue. According to Graves, the Town agreed to the new location around August 15. At Tuesday’s meeting, she noted that the sign was still not up after three weeks.

“This has been a very frustrating process, and I’m a proponent of after-action reviews. I think there needs to be a process put in place where this does not happen again with projects of this type or anything that has to do with the African American community because it’s not going to be a positive outcome for us or anybody involved with something like this,” she says.

Somerville summarized the issue as “we tell the council what we as a Black community needs and they instead give us what they think we need.”

This video is approximately thirteen minutes in length. See the Town website here to watch the complete ninety minutes on this topic during the September 6 town council meeting.

 

Last weekend’s Chestertown’s eighth annual Legacy Day Weekend 2022 once again celebrated the rich cultural heritage of African Americans in Kent County showcased through art exhibits, reenactors, history preservation workshops, dance parties, and an evening of music, food and craft vendors at Wilmer Park.

With exhibits at the Historical Society of Kent County and Sumner Hall, the legacy of Black Kent veterans was highlighted to preserve and teach the long history of their service and sacrifice from the Civil War to current active duty and retired service members.

The weekend was produced by Sumner Hall Post 25 with the Historical Society of Kent County and partnered with Kent County, Historic Chestertown, Downtown Chestertown Association, Washington College’s Chesapeake Heartland, Garfield Center for the Arts, RiverArts, Kent Cultural Alliance, Sultana Foundation, and Kent Cultural Alliance.

The Spy couldn’t think of a better way to express the meaning of Legacy Day than to talk with President of Sumner Hall and 30-year Navy veteran Larry Wilson about growing up in Kent County and discovering for himself a history never taught to him as a young man.

Wilson sees the mission of Legacy Day as both celebration and instruction and to help instill in Black Kent Youth a deeper sense of identity and pride in their ancestors.

This video includes a talk with Larry Wilson and few highlights of the weekend and is approximately ten minutes in length.

Two recent meetings—one in Talbot and one in Kent County—have amplified a continued interest in creating a network Rail/Trail bike paths that would interconnect all of the Eastern Shore. The plans are serious, long term and the benefits are substantial.

The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) and local Kent County group, the Kent Safe Cycling Alliance (name pending) have recently stepped up to host planning meetings to consider routes, safety issues, relationships with established parks, the inclusion of historical points of interests, and to coordinate with each town and county.

In April, ESLC in Easton met with county staff, elected officials, and trail advocates and experts to form a vision of a regional trails network by studying other rail-trail systems like Capital Trails Coalition, the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, the Great Allegheny Passage, the Virginia Creeper.

Director of Land Use and Policy Director Owen Bailey points out that the free trails offer equitable access to the outdoors for recreation and exercise, and “The economic benefits that trails add have been well documented in examples like Northwest Arkansas that received $137 million in benefits to their local economy in 2017.”

In Kent County, Chestertown Recreation Commission Director Jim Bogden hosted a public meeting on August 9 to plan for the extension of the Wayne Gilchrest Rail Trail to Worton and to coordinate with ESLC’s overall plan for a regional trail network. County commissioner candidate Ted Gallo, town councilman and county commission candidate Tom Herz, and Kent County Economic Development Director Jaimie Williams attended the meeting.

“We had a very rich and productive meeting,” Bogden says. “It’s a complex issue that included discussions about crime and safety, landowner and homeowner opposition, and funding possibilities with the new infrastructure bill. It won’t be easy, but we’re getting a lot of positive feedback from the community.”

The Spy recently interviewed ESLC’s Owen Bailey to overview this project.

This video is approximately seven minutes in length. For more about Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, go here or contact Owen Bailey at OBailey@eslc.org. For more information about the Wayne Gilchrest Rail Trail, see their Facebook page here.

 

 

Family members and the Coalition for Justice for Anton Black today announced resolution of the portion of their federal court litigation charging police and municipal officials with the unconstitutional killing of their beloved son in 2018.  The landmark Black v. Webster settlement goes far beyond most in police killing cases in that it focuses as much on implementing reforms aimed at saving other families from future police violence as it does on providing monetary relief. This stems from the deep dedication of the Black family and the Coalition to demanding accountability for the officials responsible for Anton’s killing and its cover up, and to working for reforms that will help save other families from the horrible grief they still suffer.

Jennell Black, mother of Anton Black, said: “I had to watch those police officers kill my son, while he pleaded for his life and called out to me. There are no words to describe the immense hurt that I will always feel when I think back on that tragic day, when I think of my son. No family should have to go through what we went through. I hope the reforms within the police departments will save lives and prevent any family from feeling the pain we feel every day.”

Reforms required under the settlement include overhaul of Use of Force policies for three Eastern Shore municipalities, enhancement of resources for police confronting mental health emergencies, officer training in de-escalation, intervention and implicit bias, hiring transparency, and public complaint reporting. These changes build on several noteworthy reforms already achieved through advocacy by the family and the Coalition, including Maryland’s enactment of a statewide law bearing Anton’s name that opens disciplinary records in police misconduct cases, as well as investigations resulting in the criminal conviction for misconduct in office of one responsible police chief, and decertification from police work of another of the involved officers.  In addition to these substantial reforms, the family with receive $5 million in monetary damages from the police and municipal defendants.

Another part of the case that remains in ongoing litigation involves allegations of conspiracy and cover up by the Office of the Maryland Medical Examiner and its now infamous former chief David Fowler.

Richard Potter, member of the Coalition for Justice for Anton Black, said: “The family and our coalition have worked tirelessly to bring accountability in Anton Black’s case and to prevent this kind of tragedy from happening in our community again. Today, we are hopeful that by reforming these local police departments, we will start to move a little closer in the right direction, away from white supremacy and closer to a nation of true equality and justice.”

The beginnings of what led to this day was an afternoon of September 15, 2018. White police officers from three different municipalities on Maryland’s Eastern Shore chased, tased, pinned, and ultimately, killed Anton Black on his mother’s front steps. Anton cried out to his mother as officers pressed down on his face, chest, and stomach for six minutes, causing him to die by positional asphyxiation, while his mother was held back, looking on in horror. In December 2020, Anton’s family and the Coalition for Justice for Anton Black filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Baltimore, challenging Anton’s killing as discriminatory and unconstitutional, and charging an array of police, municipal and state officials both in taking part and in conspiring to cover up wrongful actions by police.  Among those sued and now settling are decertified Officer Thomas Webster, who was hired by the Town of Greensboro despite community outcry about his long record of police abuse, and two Eastern Short police chiefs — one of whom, former Greensboro Chief Michael Petyo, later pled guilty to criminal misconduct related to the cover up. The Office of the Maryland Medical Examiner and medical examiners David Fowler and Russell Alexander are also defendants in the litigation, but are not parties to this settlement.

René C. Swafford, Esq. said: “Police killings in Black communities must be put to an end. We will not tolerate such blatant racism and injustice. As we look towards the future, we hope that no other Black child or adult will have to fear the police or tragically be killed by one.  Although the settlement’s reforms call for real change, real justice, and an end to police violence, the implementation of these reforms is crucial.”

The settlement will bring a series of reforms to the three local police departments involved in Anton’s death. A new model Use of Force Policy will be adopted by each of the three towns, which is focused on preventing deadly force. It further requires enhancement of resources available to police contending with mental health emergencies, such as that occurring in Anton’s case.  Officers will also now be better trained to better handle situations involving people experiencing mental health emergencies. Additional trainings will be required to address de-escalation techniques officers should employ to prevent violence, bystander intervention requirements when faced with misconduct by other officers, and implicit bias. Moreover, hiring and reporting of information, like calls to Mental Health crisis or citizen complaints, will become more transparent. In addition, the federal court will retain jurisdiction to enforce this agreement. (A summary of all the reforms will be provided below.)

Deborah Jeon, Legal Director of the ACLU of Maryland, said: “Today marks a step forward on the path toward accountability for the police killing of Anton Black and toward a Maryland in which Black lives are valued and our system ensures against police brutality through training focused on service, equity, and swift accountability for those who abuse the power they are given.”

Beyond their work on the Black v. Webster lawsuit, Anton’s killing caused his family and the Coalition formed to support them to become deeply involved in Maryland’s campaign for police reform and accountability. Efforts by the family and the Coalition led to the Maryland General Assembly’s passage last year of Anton’s Law which brings more transparency to police discipline records, making them available to the community under Maryland’s Public Information Act. The family and Coalition also successfully pushed for state investigations leading to criminal prosecution and conviction of former Greensboro police chief Michael Petyo for covering up Thomas Webster’s past misconduct record, and decertification of Thomas Webster as a police officer anywhere in the State of Maryland. In addition, after Minneapolis police murdered George Floyd and former Maryland Medical Examiner David Fowler testified in support of his killer, Derek Chauvin, the family and Coalition brought to light Fowler’s gross mishandling of medical records for Anton Black and other victims of deadly police violence in Maryland. This, in part, led to the Attorney General’s Office launching an investigation into the Medical Examiner’s Office under Fowler.

LaToya Holley, sister of Anton Black, said: “The reforms within the settlement give us some hope in our hearts that the changes made to these police departments will help prevent this tragedy for many other families. No one deserves to be killed like this. Anton Black did not deserve this. He will never be forgotten. He was such a sweet, nice, and loving person. There will always be a part of him in m

Wes Moore, whose by-the-bootstraps life story has led to stints as an entrepreneur, nonprofit CEO, and best-selling author, claimed victory Saturday in the Democratic primary for governor, taking him one step closer to the pinnacle of Maryland politics in his first run for elected office.

The Associated Press called the primary for Moore at 11 p.m. Friday, but Moore waited until late Saturday afternoon to acknowledge the victory, waiting for his nearest competitor, former U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez, to concede.

“Thank you not just for your votes, but for the votes of confidence,” Moore told a roomful of cheering supporters Saturday at his campaign’s field office on Madison Avenue in West Baltimore.

As of Saturday afternoon, the Maryland State Board of Elections showed Moore with 33.77%, Perez with 28.34%, state Comptroller Peter Franchot with 21.47%, and seven other Democratic candidates splitting the rest. Franchot conceded on Friday.

In his concession statement Saturday, which came at about 3:30 p.m., Perez, who also served as Maryland Labor secretary and as chair of the Democratic National Committee, pledged his full support to Moore and his running mate, former Del. Aruna Miller (D-Montgomery).

“I congratulate Wes Moore and Aruna Miller on their hard-fought victory,” Perez said. “Now is the time for us to unite, and I look forward to aggressively working with them to flip Maryland blue this November.”

Moore now heads to a general election with the Republican nominee, Del. Dan Cox, an arch-conservative who has parroted former President Trump’s line that the 2020 White House election was stolen. Some Republican leaders — chief among them Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr., who supported Cox’s chief GOP primary opponent, former state Commerce Secretary Kelly Schulz — have tried to distance themselves from Cox. Hogan, who has branded Cox “a QAnon whack job,” earlier this week predicted that Cox could not win the general election.

Moore wasted no time trying to draw contrasts between himself and Cox.

“The choice could not be more clear,” he said, accusing Cox of fomenting divisiveness and promoting “cynical policies of conspiracy theories and fear.”

The fall campaign pits a political novice against a first-term state lawmaker with few legislative accomplishments in a race that Democrats are favored to win. But Democrats, eager to take back Government House after eight years of Hogan, will have to cope with overconfidence and national political headwinds that could boost Republicans.

Moore pledged that Democrats would not take the general election for granted.

“There’s some sense that [Cox] hasn’t been taken seriously in the past,” he said. “I will take my opponent very seriously.”

Although this is first campaign for office, Moore lined up a seasoned campaign team and attracted a steady stream of support from an array of elected officials, including U.S. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, both presiding officers of the General Assembly, former Gov. Parris Glendening, Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks, Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman, and Reps. Dutch Ruppersberger and Kweisi Mfume. He also raised more money than other candidates by a substantial margin.

Two dozen elected officials attended the Moore victory celebration, including Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D), who remained neutral during the gubernatorial primary, and Del. Brooke Lierman (D-Baltimore City), the newly-minted Democratic nominee for state comptroller. Ruppersberger, Alsobrooks and Miller spoke before Moore did.

Moore, 43, was born in Takoma Park and lived in the Washington, D.C., area, but his family’s fortunes took a turn for the worse when his father died of an undiagnosed disease when Moore was 3. His family later moved to the Bronx, and after struggling, Moore eventually went to military school and served in the Army. He got his bachelors degree from Johns Hopkins University, became a Rhodes Scholar, started an education business in Baltimore, and eventually became CEO of the Robin Hood Foundation, a New York-based anti-poverty organization.

On Saturday, Moore reiterated his central campaign theme that he plans to lift up Marylanders of all economic stations. He noted his family’s economic struggles while he was growing up, and said, “I’ve seen the consequences of a society that leaves too many people behind. I don’t need a white paper to explain it. I’ve lived it.”

Moore had been urged to run for office before — both for mayor of Baltimore and for Congress following the death of the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings (D) — but turned down those entreaties. When he announced his candidacy for governor in June of 2021, he said he was moved to become a candidate this time because of the unequal devastation in Maryland wrought by COVID-19.

Moore argued throughout the campaign that even though he was seeking the Democratic nomination against several veteran officeholders, he had the most well-rounded experience and was best-equipped to confront the state’s challenges.

On Saturday, he paid tribute to his vanquished Democratic primary opponents and asserted that he would need their help to defeat the Republicans.

“We have good relationships with the other folks who have run for governor and we know we’re going to move in partnership with them,” Moore said. “We need them now. We’re going to need them in November. And we’re going to need them beyond.”

Moore would become the first Black governor of Maryland if he is elected, and his running mate, Miller, would become the first lieutenant governor of Asian descent and the second woman to serve in that position.

“We didn’t get in this race to make history,” Moore said. “We got in this race to make child poverty history. We got in this race to make educational inequality history.”

By Josh Kurtz