Tax bills imperil slavery museum
L. Douglas Wilder, the nation's first elected black governor, unveiled a plan to build the United States National Slavery Museum...
From New York Times:
FREDERICKSBURG, Va. — It’s been 10 years since L. Douglas Wilder, the nation’s first elected black governor, unveiled a plan to build the United States National Slavery Museum on 38 acres here. It was to be the only institution of its kind, housed in a soaring glass-and-travertine building and illuminated at night so that cars passing on I-95 could see the full-scale replica of a slave ship in its atrium.
Today the land remains vacant and is drowning in tax bills.
The museum owes more than $215,000 in property taxes and fees, dating back to 2008. This month the city announced it is putting the land on the auction block.
“It just seems that nothing has been happening, and nobody’s answering any of the mail we send to them, so we’re just doing the same thing to them that we’d do to anybody else,” said G. M. Haney, the city’s treasurer.
The museum’s director has departed, its board no longer meets, its offices are abandoned, and the museum’s state license to solicit donations has lapsed. Some people who donated artifacts to the museum years ago have demanded them back.
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