Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

[Dignann]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

Former governor makes plea to City Council

Wilder makes pitch for tax exemption

BY EMILY BATTLE

The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.]
June 11, 2008

Former Governor and Richmond Mayor Douglas Wilder came to Fredericksburg last night to ask the City Council to make the 38 acres in Celebrate Virginia on which he hopes to build his proposed United States National Slavery Museum exempt from city real estate taxes.

The exemption would cost the city $42,745 a year. It would be valid for three years.

"I know cities need money," Wilder said at the beginning of his remarks to the council.

He went on to say that the country needs his proposed museum to accurately and completely tell the story of slavery in America and said the tax exemption would help the museum get built faster.

"Either you want the museum here or you don't," Wilder said. "Clearly, paying the kinds of monies we would have to pay [in real estate taxes] wouldn't help us in that direction."

In a June 4 letter to the city asking for the exemption, museum Executive Director Vonita Foster wrote that the museum hopes to start construction within a year if the exemption is granted.

Foster asked that the exemption be retroactive to 2002.

But last night, Wilder didn't want to make any promises about when construction might start.

"I can't guarantee that we will open anything this year. I can't guarantee we will build anything," Wilder said. "But I will guarantee you between now and the next time we speak that you will see something going up on that site."

He acknowledged that his time commitments as Richmond's mayor have made it hard for him to make progress toward the museum's $200 million fundraising goal.

The museum's most recent tax return listed assets of $17.7 million, but nearly all of it--roughly $17.4 million--is the value of the land, which was donated by the Silver Cos.

The land is assessed on the city books at $7.6 million.

"All we need to build is money," Wilder said.

He said previous corporate pledges have been cut as the economy has suffered. He said the city's tax exemption could help keep the project moving.

"I don't believe anybody's going to go broke because of it," Wilder said. "If we are successful, just consider what those revenues are going to look like."

While Wilder and most of the other seven speakers who addressed last night's public hearing focused on the need for the museum and the importance of the city's partnership with it, the tax exemption is primarily a legal question.

City Manager Phillip Rodenberg has recommended that the council only grant an exemption for the portion of the property the museum uses now.

That would be the .29 acres on which the museum operates its Spirit of Freedom garden. The city calculated the value of taxes on that portion of the property as $327 a year.

As for the rest of the property, Rodenberg wrote, "It is the use of property which qualifies it for tax exempt status, and this property is not currently in use."

Local attorney Charlie Payne, who is representing the museum, disagreed.

He pointed to a state code section that says that "property of any nonprofit corporation organized to establish and maintain a museum" shall be exempt from taxes.

He also criticized Rodenberg for asking the council to act on his narrowed-down proposal to exempt only the garden, instead of the museum's original request for the whole property.

Council members tabled the request.

Councilman Matt Kelly said that while many of the speakers at the hearing noted a need for the city to partner with the museum, he wants to see more of an effort from the museum to communicate with Fredericksburg.

"There have been a few meetings with regards to this project, but none with the community as a whole," he said.

Vice Mayor Kerry Devine said she supports the museum's mission, but "I am struggling with the fact that it's been six years and we have yet to see further movement on that plan."

Council will consider the museum's request at its June 24 meeting.

"This issue is about property use," Devine said. "Not politics, not race, not sentiments, but property use and tax-exempt status."

Also last night, the council approved a $76.5 million budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The budget includes a 3-cent hike in the real estate tax rate, taking it from 53 to 56 cents per $100 of value.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/062008/06112008/386676/index_html?page=1

Eric

[Dignann]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

Slavery Museum releases donor list

U.S. National Slavery Museum releases list of donors

By PAMELA GOULD

The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.]
June 17, 2008

Comedian Bill Cosby, The Silver Cos. and its chief executive officer are listed as million-dollar donors to the U.S. National Slavery Museum.

Six days after museum founder L. Douglas Wilder appeared before the Fredericksburg City Council asking that the museum be exempt from real-estate taxes, the museum released a list of its donors yesterday.

At the top of the list, in the category of gifts of $1 million and above, are three entries: The Silver Cos., Silver CEO Larry Silver, and William and Camille Cosby.

The next category, for gifts of $100,000 to $999,999, has four entries: Cosby, Larry Silver, Wachovia and Philip Morris USA.

Shiloh (Old Site) Baptist Church and Pei Partnership Architects are among 10 listed as having given between $10,000 and $99,999.

Lawrence Davies, Shiloh's pastor, a former Fredericksburg mayor and a museum board member, said his church gave $10,000 to the museum in support of the story it plans to tell.

"We felt that we wanted to support the idea of a museum that helped to set the record straight on slavery and blacks, after that, coming to full citizenship," said Davies, whose congregation is predominantly black.

Museum officials have, in the past, steadfastly avoided providing an open look into the nonprofit's finances. But yesterday morning, the museum distributed an e-mail for its spring/summer 2008 newsletter that included a 17-page list of people and businesses that have contributed gifts and in-kind donations through 2007.

Previously, museum officials said they had received $50 million in cash and pledges. But, last week, Wilder said corporate pledges fell as the economy faltered.

He cited financial constraints as a reason the museum is seeking a tax exemption.

Councilman Matt Kelly said the donor information is a "good first step" in learning more about the museum, but it falls short of what he needs to make decisions about it, including whether to support an exemption.

Kelly said he is interested in knowing how involved Wilder will be with the museum once his term as Richmond mayor ends this year. He said he also wants to be kept updated on the museum's progress.

"This is a project of a magnitude that requires very close cooperation between the city and slavery museum, and we're not there yet," he said yesterday.

Last week, the council expressed interest in having more information about the museum's plans and progress before deciding whether to grant Wilder's request to exempt the land on which he hopes to build the museum from city real-estate taxes.

If approved, the exemption would be for $42,745 a year for three years.

Vice Mayor Kerry Devine, whose name was listed among those having given "under $100," expressed concern at last week's meeting that six years had passed with no progress on the structure.

Attempts to reach the museum's spokesman were unsuccessful yesterday.

The Silver Cos. donated the 38 acres on which the museum is to be built. The museum's most recent tax return listed assets of $17.7 million, roughly $17.4 million of which is the value of the land.

The museum is to be built within the Fredericksburg portion of the Celebrate Virginia tourism and retail development.

Cosby serves on the museum board. In September 2004, he announced that he would give the museum proceeds from 10 of his concerts, a donation he then estimated could total $20 million.

C.C. Pei, of Pei Partnership Architects in New York, designed the museum.

Last week, Wilder said he couldn't guarantee anything would open on the site this year. Deadlines for opening have repeatedly been pushed back since the former Virginia governor announced Fredericksburg as the site of the museum in 2001.

Last month, museum Executive Director Vonita Foster requested a one-year extension to begin construction. Without an extension, the museum's special-use permit to build a structure taller than normally allowed at the site expires Aug. 1.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/062008/06172008/387988/index_html?page=1

Eric

[Dale Beasley]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

I have no doubt that if this project gets off and the reality of it comes true...Emmanuel Dabney would be the man to run it.

I had the chance to stop at Petersburg Military Park the other day while coming from a Medical Staff Meeting. By chance Ranger Dabney was giving a tour. My troops were very interested in what Mr. Dabney had to say, and he did a top shelf presentation.

BTW, Emmanuel SPC Dorsey wants a date.

[Dignann]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

Slavery Museum cites state exemption

Nonprofit tax exemptions debated

BY EMILY BATTLE

The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.]
June 22, 2008

Many of the debates Fredericksburg's City Council members have had about the U.S. National Slavery Museum have focused on the museum's potential benefit to the city's economy and the need to tell the story of one of the darkest periods in American history.

But when council members sit down on Tuesday to consider the museum's request for a real-estate tax exemption, their discussion will likely be steeped in complex legal arguments.

City Manager Phillip Rodenberg has said the museum's 38 acres aren't eligible for a tax exemption because the museum is not using all of the land, and hasn't filed any documents to start construction on the land.

A city ordinance says Fredericksburg can grant exemptions to any nonprofit organization "that uses such property solely" for a qualifying purpose.

Rodenberg recommended that the council grant an exemption on the 0.29 acre on which the museum operates its Spirit of Freedom Garden. That would be worth $327 a year. He said further exemptions could be considered as the museum develops more of the land.

Local attorney Charlie Payne, who is representing the Slavery Museum in its request, said he thinks the city doesn't have the power to grant or deny exemptions for any museum.

He said the state has already done that.

"It comes down to whether we're exempt for the purposes of who we are, how we operate and why we're holding that property," Payne said.

STATE LAW PREVAILS?

Payne bases his argument on a state law that says property owned by "any nonprofit corporation organized to establish and maintain a museum" shall be exempt.

The city's ordinance is based on a more recent law that applies to exemptions granted after Jan. 1, 2003.

That same law specifically states that it doesn't apply to exemptions granted before 2003 by the code section Payne references.

Payne argues that that code section effectively grants the Slavery Museum an exemption, and therefore the city doesn't get to make its decision based on whether the museum is currently using the land.

City officials read that provision as simply grandfathering pre-existing exemptions.

Since the Slavery Museum didn't have an exemption when the law was passed, it doesn't get to argue that it has one now.

Under Payne's logic, the Fredericksburg Area Museum wouldn't have to apply for a real-estate tax exemption, and neither would any other nonprofit museum in the commonwealth.

PROCESS VARIES

The process used for nonprofit tax exemptions varies around the state.

In Lynchburg, new museums and other nonprofits seeking exemptions are routed to the city assessor, who asks:

Is the land owned by the nonprofit?

Is it being used for the nonprofit's stated purpose?

Chesterfield County asks nonprofits, including museums, to specify the use of every acre of their property, and reserves the right to grant exemptions for parts of property that are in use and deny them for parts that are not.

Charlottesville adopted a resolution in 1988 saying it would no longer consider tax-exemption requests from nonprofits, including museums. Instead, it asks them to apply for funding through its budget process.

Officials in all of the above localities pointed to these policies when asked what process a nonprofit museum would have to go through to get a real-estate tax exemption.

But Payne thinks the museum can make a case that it should never have been paying taxes to Fredericksburg.

He points to a 2003 attorney general's opinion that says the code section that authorizes Fredericksburg's ordinance is not meant to repeal any pre-existing exemptions.

The land in question was donated to the Slavery Museum in February 2002 for the express purpose of building a museum.

Although the Slavery Museum was paying taxes on the land in 2003, when that state law took effect, Payne says it shouldn't have been.

That's why the museum originally asked that its tax exemption be made retroactive to 2002. Payne said the retroactive portion of the request was withdrawn "as an olive branch, knowing this is a tough budgetary time."

PAVED THE WAY

Mayor Tom Tomzak said he's inclined to follow the city's legal recommendation, but he doesn't think the question of whether to grant the exemption should be construed as an indication of whether Fredericksburg supports the Slavery Museum.

"We do want the museum to be successful," he said. "But we have to go by the city's ordinances and the rule of law."

"This isn't a subjective determination on the part of the council about whether we support the museum," Councilwoman Debby Girvan said.

Vice Mayor Kerry Devine said she thinks the city's past actions--from giving it $1 million to approving a height variance for its planned building--show strong support for the museum.

Now, she and other council members would like to see the museum do more to communicate with the city and make progress on its plans.

"We have paved the way for the Slavery Museum," Devine said. "Now, we'd like to see it."

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/062008/06222008/388334

Eric

[Eric Tipton]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

The Freedom Center here in Cincinnati sounds vaguely similar in concept and attendance has been sparse at best. Personally, I loved the idea, since Cincinnati and surrounding areas were so integral to the underground railroad movement, but the building itself, in my opinion, was too large and poorly-designed... and I always thought that it should have been a more period structure.

This center has been debated since its inception. I have visited and was not impressed. Now, they are trying to make this into the typical "conservatives vs. liberals" debate and the politicians won't aknowledge that perhaps this wasn't done the way it should have been. They are talking around the issue and now we have a very large, and (largely) unused structure on our riverfront. To read more about this project - several years after the fact, click here.

[Dignann]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

Council Denies Exemption

Fredericksburg officials consider tax-exemption request from Slavery Museum

BY EMILY BATTLE

The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.]
June 25, 2008

The U.S. National Slavery Museum won't qualify for exemption from city real estate taxes until it starts building on the 38 acres it owns in Celebrate Virginia.

That's the message the Fredericksburg City Council sent with a 6-1 vote last night denying the museum's request for a tax exemption. Councilman Hashmel Turner cast the only vote against denying the exemption.

The museum, through attorney Charlie Payne, continues to argue that it qualifies for exemption not based on whether it is using the property, but because state law puts organizations that are set up to establish museums in a special category of exempt entities.

Payne said that means the Slavery Museum shouldn't have to start using its land before it becomes exempt.

The city and the museum are at odds over when this "use test" applies.

City Manager Phillip Rodenberg had suggested the city could grant an exemption on the tiny slice of property on which the museum operates its Spirit of Freedom Garden.

But after the museum asked for an up-or-down vote on its request for the full property, council denied it last night.

The legal debate also raised questions about the city's relationship with the museum.

Vice Mayor Kerry Devine said that since former governor and museum founder L. Douglas Wilder first announced that he planned to build the museum in Fredericksburg, the council had approved a $1 million gift, a height variance for the building and generally been supportive.

As Payne harped on the fact that the exemption should be granted solely because of the group's classification as a museum, Devine said, "My question is where is the museum? ... This community deserves more of an answer than, 'We're still working on it.'"

Museum Executive Director Vonita Foster suggested the city needed to be more patient.

"Building a museum is very expensive. Very expensive. This is a national museum. It is not a city museum, it is a national museum," Foster said. "I don't understand with the economy the way it is, why you don't understand why we can't begin construction."

Turner pointed to the agreement with which the Silver Cos. gave the land to the museum, which restricted its use for that purpose.

"The property is set aside for the museum, so nothing else is to be built there," he said. "The sole use of that property will be for the museum."

At last night's meeting, the council granted a roughly $2,000-a-year exemption to New Vision, a transitional home for female ex-offenders.

City staff had recommended against that exemption because the city code says any property used as a dwelling or other "personal use" can't be exempt. Council members said this isn't really a "personal" dwelling, it's institutional housing.

The council also took the second vote necessary to renew a $8,000-a-year exemption for the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center.

City officials said this application was different from the Slavery Museum's, because the Area Museum is in the middle of construction on its properties.

Before he voted against the Slavery Museum's request, worth $43,000 a year, Councilman Matt Kelly said, "I am looking forward to the day that we grant a full tax-exempt status to an up-and-running National Slavery Museum. As it currently stands, it does not qualify."

Councilwoman Debby Girvan said that even though her term on council ends June 30, she'd like future councils to look into the exemption issue.

"How many tax exemptions can the city afford?" she asked.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/062008/06252008/390244

Eric

[Dignann]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

Planners back giving museum extension

The Fredericksburg Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval for the U.S. National Slavery Museum's request for an extension of a special-use permit

BY MEGAN WILLIAMS

The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.]
July 31, 2008

The Fredericksburg Planning Commission voted unanimously yesterday to recommend extending for a year the U.S. National Slavery Museum's Aug. 1 deadline to begin construction.

Though there were questions about why the museum requested just a one-year extension, no one at the meeting commented on it.

"It seems like an awfully short time to get construction under way," said Ray Ocel, city planning director.

During a public hearing meeting earlier this month, no members of the community spoke for or against the extension recommendation.

The museum's deadline to begin construction is part of a special-use permit approved by the council two years ago.

The permit was requested so the museum could exceed the standard 90-foot ceiling limit to accommodate the mast of an 18th-century slave ship replica. The ceiling would need to be 118-feet for the ship to fit.

Vonita W. Foster, the executive director of the museum, submitted an application for an extension of the permit on May 16.

No construction has begun on the museum, planned on 38 acres in Celebrate Virginia South.

The City Council will hold a public hearing before deciding on whether to approve the extension.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/072008/07312008/399273

Eric

[Dignann]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

Slavery museum revenue, spending increased in 2007

U.S. National Slavery Museum tax return shows organization in the black for 2007 but raised less than $1 million

BY PAMELA GOULD

The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.]
November 22, 2008

The U.S. National Slavery Museum raised 50 percent more money in 2007 than in 2006 and ended the year in the black--a reversal from 2006, according to the nonprofit's latest tax return.

However, despite raising $577, 173 and earning $4,567 in interest on its investments, museum expenses for 2007 consumed all but $54,690 of the year's income, the report shows.

Meanwhile, the city revenue commissioner says the museum owes more than $23,000 in overdue real-estate taxes and penalties.

On its tax return, the museum reported an end-of-year balance of $17.6 million, $17.5 million of which was the value of the land the museum was given to build on.

In 2002, the Silver Cos. donated 38 acres within its Celebrate Virginia tourism and retail complex in Fredericksburg for the museum after former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder chose the city as the site for the museum.

The land's value depreciated $9,540 in 2007, according to the report. However, that was offset by unspecified art in the museum's possession, which was valued at $9,000.

Wilder selected Fredericksburg over Jamestown and Richmond as the site for the museum he has envisioned since a visit to Goree Island in West Africa while governor. Wilder finishes his term as mayor of Richmond at year's end.

Dates for the museum to open have repeatedly been pushed back. The most recent estimate came in June 2007, when Executive Director Vonita W. Foster said she hoped for a "soft opening" sometime this year and an official opening in 2009 or 2010.

Foster said at the time that she needed to raise $10 million by fall of 2007 to open a portion of the museum this year. The tax return shows less than $1 million was raised for the entire year.

Construction has not begun nor have city officials received any documents to begin the process of getting approval to start work.

"This is bad times, I know. It's probably bad times to raise money, but I would like to know something," said Building and Development Services Director Stephen Smallwood.

In an odd quirk, a travel story recently appeared in more than one online publication suggesting the museum is open and would make an excellent stop for visitors to the Fredericksburg area.

CITY TAXES OVERDUE

Wilder and Foster have said they had garnered about $50 million in cash and pledges toward constructing a roughly $150 million museum. However, no pledges have ever been listed on the museum's tax returns although there is space to do that.

The only thing standing so far is a garden on the edge of the museum site.

Attempts to speak to Wilder this week were unsuccessful. Foster was not in her office in Central Park during visits there three days this week and once last week.

A public relations firm that had represented the museum said this week that it no longer does so.

In September, the City Council approved Foster's request to extend by one year the deadline to begin construction or restart the permitting process to build a structure taller than is generally allowed at its site.

In October, Commissioner of Revenue Lois B. Jacob denied the museum's request for an exemption from paying real-estate taxes on the land.

That meant the museum owed $21,372.40 on Monday for the first half of its fiscal 2009 real-estate tax bill. It had not been paid as of yesterday, and the museum had accrued $2,136.86 in penalties, according to the city treasurer's office.

In her Oct. 24 letter to museum attorney Charles Payne, Jacob noted that while the slavery museum can be categorized as a nonprofit, Payne provided nothing to show it was operating as a museum or would be doing so in the near future.

"The mere fact that the Taxpayer's name includes the word 'museum,' or that it refers to itself as a museum does not make it a museum," Jacob wrote to Payne.

In making her decision on its tax status, Jacob requested but did not receive documentation that the land would be "developed as a museum in a reasonable time."

She asked for documents showing that construction plans were in place or that finances did not yet allow them.

Without any of that information, she ruled against the museum.

"I received no response to my Aug. 7 and Sept. 11 requests for information that would substantiate the Taxpayer's claim that the property will be developed as a museum within a reasonable amount of time," Jacob wrote. "I would have considered any number of construction or financial documents, including but not limited to a construction contract, project schedule, project budget, and documents establishing the Taxpayer's financial ability to commence construction, but I received no such documentation.

"In fact, I received no reply at all to these requests for information."

THE COST OF FUNDRAISING

The proposed museum's federal tax return is a public document because it is a nonprofit organization. Museum assistant Debra Daniels provided a copy of the return to the newspaper this week, upon request, as provided by law. The deadline for filing the report was Monday.

Of the $527,050 in expenses the museum listed for 2007, the cost of fundraising accounted for $61,910, or 11.7 percent. Of that total, $12,750 was the portion of Foster's $85,000 salary designated toward that effort.

Other expenses for the year included another $66,216 for wages. The museum reported having three employees in 2007.

Expenses fall into three broad categories: fundraising, management and program services.

Program services accounted for $288,331 and included things such as supplies, postage, publications and travel.

Management included salaries, payroll taxes, accounting fees and insurance.

The tax return does not list who gave the $577,173 in contributions to the museum in 2007. However, Philip Morris USA announced in March 2007 that it was making a $200,000 donation.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2008/112008/11222008/426662

Eric

[Dignann]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

Slavery museum's future in doubt

Overdue taxes and apparent departure of director raise questions about slavery museum's status

BY PAMELA GOULD

The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.
February 21, 2009

Eight months ago, then-Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder visited Fredericksburg to plead with City Council to give tax-exempt status to the slavery museum he announced for Celebrate Virginia seven years earlier.

He acknowledged that his duties as mayor of Richmond had hindered the project's progress. Construction hasn't begun and building permits have never been sought.

"One of the reasons we haven't gone further is speaking to you now--me," Wilder told the council on June 10.

But the former governor and grandson of slaves stressed that financing the U.S. National Slavery Museum had been a major challenge and that the burden of paying taxes on the museum's 38-acre property was a weight the city could lift if it wanted the project.

"Either you want the museum here or you don't," Wilder told the Fredericksburg council. "Clearly, paying the kind of monies that we'd have to pay wouldn't help us in that direction."

But council was not swayed.

Two weeks later, in a 6-1 vote with Councilman Hashmel Turner dissenting, the council denied Wilder's request.

The next tax bill, due in November, went unpaid.

As of this week, with pen-alty and interest added, the museum owed $24,093.02, according to the city treasurer's office.

Now, two months after Wilder's mayoral term ended, no Fredericksburg official has seen or heard from him.

Councilman Turner's attempts to reach him for information have been unsuccessful.

Former Fredericksburg Mayor Lawrence Davies is uncertain whether he remains on the museum board.

And every indication suggests that the museum's small staff--including Executive Director Vonita Foster--is gone.

EMPTY OFFICES

The last certain sighting of Foster at the museum offices in the Uptown section of Central Park was in November.

People who work near the museum's leased space on the second floor of 1320 Central Park Boulevard--doors labeled 244, 250 and 251--say they've seen no one in December, January or this month.

The museum never had much staff beyond Foster and one assistant.

The Free Lance-Star has found no one during repeated visits to the office. The paper has left voice-mail messages for Foster at the museum offices and on her home number, and has sent e-mails to her museum account and a personal account but has never received any response.

This week, calls to museum offices were met by a recording that said: "The number you have reached is arranged for outgoing calls only."

Word circulating through the city is that Foster resigned from her $85,000 position.

Wilder, who now has an office at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University, has not responded to messages left with his assistant, Ruth Jones.

Jones said she couldn't help the newspaper get in touch with Foster. "I really don't have any forwarding information for her," Jones said.

Asked whether Wilder planned to fill Foster's position, Jones said the newspaper "would need to get that information from the governor."

LAND IN JEOPARDY?

City Treasurer G.M. Haney said his office is "aggressive" about collecting taxes and will use whatever tools he needs to collect the funds.

That includes taking money from bank accounts and, ultimately, seizing property and selling it.

The museum, like any individual or business, has two years to get its taxes paid or risks having the property sold.

Museum officials failed to make a payment due Nov. 15, and its next payment of $21,372.40 comes due May 15.

The clock on the two-year period to pay or face the sale of the land started ticking when the museum failed to make its last payment by Nov. 15.

The Silver Cos. donated 38 acres for the museum within the Celebrate Virginia South project, adjacent to Interstate 95 and overlooking the Rappahannock River. Conditions of the land transfer require that it be used for a museum dedicated to African-American heritage, a Silver Cos. official said.

Scott Little, project manager for Celebrate Virginia South, said an attorney for the Silver Cos. said the restriction on the land's use would convey with the land if it were sold.

He said the company has no plans to pay the taxes for the nonprofit museum, and would not act if a sale of the land looked imminent.

"We would not step in the way of that," Little said.

CITY CHATTER

For the slavery museum to come to fruition, communication would be required with various offices in City Hall.

But no one in any of the offices the museum would need to work with to get the facility built has heard anything apart from reports of Foster's absence.

The same is true for the city economic development and tourism staff.

"We're interested and we're concerned but we're just not getting information," said acting economic development director Karen Hedelt, who is the city's chief tourism official.

City Manager Phil Rodenberg said the project could move forward with someone besides Foster, but said he was unaware of Wilder's plans.

He said the project is a significant one for the city, and if it wasn't going forward, steps would need to begin to seek out another attraction.

He said it had been "a key component of Celebrate Virginia" and had been envisioned as an "icon to draw people off the interstate."

Architect C.C. Pei of New York designed the museum. It includes a full-scale replica slave ship enclosed in a glass-walled structure that would be visible from the highway.

Hedelt said the apparent departure of Foster and the museum's tax situation cause her concern about the project's future.

She said the museum was viewed as "a springboard" for other development and was expected to impact tourism throughout the area.

"They held out the prospect of some pretty significant marketing that we thought could benefit the whole region," Hedelt said.

Councilman Turner was concerned about Foster's apparent departure.

"I would like to know why and if there is someone else that's going to take her place," he said.

He said he contacted Wilder weeks ago and hadn't gotten a response.

"I was waiting for Mayor Wilder to be back in touch with us and give us an update," he said. "We'll have some questions for him now."

Fredericksburg Mayor Tom Tomzak stressed his longtime support for the museum and his current concern about the lack of information on the project's status.

"I'm certainly disappointed the museum has not seen fit to communicate with the council that clearly supported them," he said.

With the current status, he expressed concerns about the museum's future.

"It's not an encouraging sign, and I hope the project is not finished," he said.

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/022009/02212009/446477/index_html?page=1

Eric

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

I think the short message that I can say is that this remains very disappointing. I will say however that it took a longer time for the Holocaust Museum to get finished in D.C.; all the same this project (like others) has been too secretive. I'm afraid the current economic downturn will further hinder this museum particularly as there has not been construction attempted.

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

Slavery museum eyed in capital?

BY CHELYEN DAVIS


RICHMOND--

With the slavery museum's future in Fredericksburg in doubt, Richmond Del. Delores McQuinn says she's willing to do whatever it takes to move the potential museum to Richmond.

"I would do whatever I can to secure the funds to have it here," McQuinn said.

McQuinn was chosen in a special election earlier this year to replace Dwight Jones, who became Richmond's mayor. She said she is due to meet with Jones next week and plans to talk to him about her idea.

"I've talked to so many people about it," she said. "People would love to have it here."

McQuinn thinks Richmond is a better location, given the city's history and historical sites. Those sites include Lumpkin's Jail, once a well-known slave jail, and later a school for newly freed slaves.

"It's the right place for the slavery museum, just because of the history of Richmond," McQuinn said. "What was authentic here I think it's the right place."

A former Richmond councilwoman, McQuinn said she pushed the then-Mayor Doug Wilder to locate the slavery museum in Richmond from the beginning.

But Wilder chose Fredericksburg.

However, no one in Fredericksburg seems to have heard from Wilder, nor his staff, in several months. Taxes on the land slated for the museum have gone unpaid since November, construction hasn't begun, and building permits have never been sought for the museum's 38-acre property in Celebrate Virginia.

And every indication suggests that the museum's small staff--including Executive Director Vonita Foster--is gone.

People who work near the museum's leased space in Central Park say they've seen no one in months.

Calls to museum offices were met by a recording that said: "The number you have reached is arranged for outgoing calls only."

Museum officials failed to make a tax payment due Nov. 15, and its next bill of $21,372.40 comes due May 15.


Chelyen Davis: 804/782-9362
Email: cdavis@freelancestar.com


Date published: 2/27/2009

Online at: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2...2272009/449033

[ley74]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

Em:

All I see is opportunity here. Wonder what will happen to the F'Burg land?

[Dignann]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

Slavery museum failed to file state registration

Slavery Museum's registration to solicit donations lapsed in May 2008

BY EMILY BATTLE

The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.]
February 28, 2009

Last June, former Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder told Fredericksburg's City Council that even though his U.S. National Slavery Museum had a tough fundraising goal ahead of it, he was confident he could meet the challenge.

"We'll still be knocking on the doors of the corporate people," Wilder said.

But it turns out that at the time, the museum had allowed its state registration to raise charitable contributions to expire.

The registration expired in May 2008, according to information available on the state Office of Consumer Affairs Web site.

The office granted an extension until August of last year, but to this day the museum's registration to raise funds remains lapsed, even though the museum continues to solicit funds via its Web site.

Officials with the Office of Consumer Affairs were not available yesterday to comment.

State law requires that any organization that plans to solicit charitable contributions make a yearly filing, including basic information about the group as well as its tax return and audited balance sheets.

The lapsed filing is just one more sign that the museum appears to have stopped operations.

Museum Executive Director Vonita Foster has not been seen in the museum's offices in Central Park since November. She has not responded to correspondence or phone calls from this and other media outlets--or from the Office of Consumer Affairs regarding the group's registration to solicit donations.

Wilder also has not responded to media inquiries, and Fredericksburg officials who have tried to contact him have not been successful.

Anyone who tries to call the museum is greeted by a message that says the number has been arranged for outgoing calls only.

Meanwhile, the museum owes more than $24,000 in overdue taxes and penalties on the 38 acres it owns in Celebrate Virginia.

That land--which is in a commercial area city officials consider crucial to Fredericksburg's future financial health--was donated to the museum in 2001 by the Silver Cos. Silver officials also have said they have had no contact with Wilder or others associated with the museum.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/022009/02282009/449168

Eric

[Dignann]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

Wilder: Slavery museum will stay

Wilder says museum will be built and in Fredericksburg

BY PAMELA GOULD AND EMILY BATTLE

The Free Lance-Star [Fredericksburg, Va.]
March 12, 2009

Former Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder said this week that the U.S. National Slavery Museum he envisioned while governor will be built and won't be changing locations.

"The Museum Board is committed to its stated and moral obligations to the Fredericksburg community and its legal representatives," Wilder said in an online statement posted Wednesday.

But he stated that a lack of funds continues to delay progress on the project.

Yesterday, a representative for Wilder told the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs that by next Friday the museum will file documentation to re-establish its registration to solicit charitable contributions, according to a state spokeswoman.

The slavery museum allowed that registration to lapse last summer, but its Web site continues to solicit funds. State law requires registration by all entities that solicit contributions.

Wilder said Wednesday in a statement posted on a Richmond-based blog and in an interview with NBC affiliate WWBT-TV in Richmond that he has no plans to move his dream facility to the state capital, as some have suggested.

Wilder did not respond yesterday to a message left with his assistant by The Free Lance-Star. He currently works out of an office at the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at Virginia Commonwealth University.

In the televised interview, Wilder said he wanted to "make clear" that he had not scrapped his plans to build the museum in Fredericksburg.

"We are there. We intend to stay there. We intend to build there," he said.

However, the slavery museum offices in Central Park are no longer staffed, the phone line has been disconnected, and the museum owes the city of Fredericksburg $24,288.89 in back taxes and interest. The museum has another bill for $21,372.40 due May 15.

Fredericksburg Mayor Tom Tomzak said he has not heard from Wilder since he visited the city last spring to ask for a real-estate tax exemption.

"It's encouraging to hear that he still wants to put the museum here, but he's not talked to the city at all," Tomzak said.

Wilder said last spring and repeated in this week's statements that the economy has severely hurt his ability to raise funds to build the museum.

Over the past several weeks, news outlets have reported that various Richmond officials are interested in seeing the slavery museum built there. Those reports followed a Feb. 21 article in The Free Lance-Star stating that the museum's executive director was apparently gone, the museum was behind in its tax payments and city officials were wondering about its fate.

City Treasurer G.M. Haney has said he will defer to the City Council in working to collect the outstanding taxes. If the taxes remain unpaid for two years, however, he will take steps to sell the land to recover them.

Tomzak said the city wasn't moving forward on the tax issue for now and wasn't sure what it might do in the future.

"Until we have more contact with the museum, it's really difficult to comment on this," he said.

City Councilman Hashmel Turner said he never got a response from Wilder to his request for information but was pleased by reports that the former governor still plans to build in Fredericksburg.

"I'm definitely glad because the U.S. National Slavery Museum is part of the equation for our Celebrate Virginia build-out," Turner said. "A lot of things have been set in motion with the thought the U.S. National Slavery Museum would be up and running."

--------------------------------------------

In 2001, former Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder announced plans to build the museum in Fredericksburg on 38 acres bordered by Interstate 95 and the Rappahannock River. The Silver Cos. donated the land, which sits within its Celebrate Virginia project.

Dates to open the museum--or at least part of it--have continually been pushed back because of a lack of funds. The latest cost estimate for the project was $200 million.

http://www.fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2009/032009/03132009/451987/index_html?page=1

Eric

[Emmanuel Dabney]

Re: Slavery Museum: Fundraising and Debates Continues

Slavery museum project re-registers for permit to solicit donations

By Will Jones

Published: March 31, 2009

The U.S. National Slavery Museum might still be planned for Fredericksburg, but it's based in Richmond.

The project led by former Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder listed a local post office box and phone number as contact information in a recent filing with the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs.

The registration form, received March 23 and pending approval, is supposed to be filed annually for the museum to legally seek contributions in Virginia. The group's prior filing expired Aug. 15 and listed the group as based in Fredericksburg.

Wilder, a distinguished professor at Virginia Commonwealth University, has for weeks not returned calls seeking information on the museum's status.

Last week, a call to the number listed with the state was answered by Ruth M. Jones, Wilder's executive assistant at VCU. She answered, "hello," without immediately identifying herself with the slavery museum. She offered to pass a message to Wilder that was not returned.

The annual registration form was signed by Jones as the museum's secretary and by Wilder as its executive director, although he is listed elsewhere as chairman of the board of directors.

The museum's Web site continues to list the museum's office in Fredericksburg and Vonita W. Foster as its executive director.

On the state registration form, only Jones and Wilder are listed in the section for officers, directors and salaried executive officers. The form submitted in late 2007 was signed by Wilder and Foster, and it also listed the museum's 10-member board of directors.

In its recent filing, the museum showed $577,173 in contributions and $61,910 in fundraising expenses in 2007.

In a blog post this month, Wilder acknowledged fundraising difficulties but offered no insight on the museum project. He said the museum's board is committed "to its stated and moral obligations" to building the museum in Fredericksburg despite interest among some officials in Richmond in having the project or something similar in Shockoe Bottom.

"Our architects, engineers, planners and contractors have brought us to the point of the eventual construction of the first phases, to accompany the Freedom Garden there on display," Wilder said, referring to the museum's 38-acre site on the Rappahannock River. "The only thing that delays us is the next funding."

The Rev. Lawrence A. Davies, a former Fredericksburg mayor who has served on the museum's board of directors, said he expected to hear something from Wilder after Wilder was interviewed by WWBT about two weeks ago. Davies said yesterday he hasn't heard anything.

"We just don't know what's going on," he said.

Online at: http://www.timesdispatch.com/rtd/new...223316/244780/