A Friday night celebration in Prince George’s County came with fanfare — and some mixed feelings in the community.
The groundbreaking and expansion of Clyopatra Winery and Vineyard Village Resort in Laurel and parts of Bowie symbolizes big things for the county.
It’s the first African-immigrant-owned winery in the United States, and will become the largest Black-female-owned winery and vineyard on the East Coast, Prince George’s County said.
“We will stand out,” Aisha Braveboy, the Prince George’s County Executive, said at the groundbreaking. “We will not only have a phenomenal vineyard here, wonderful wines and spirits here, but we also will have a place that so many can call home.”
The project is expected to bring between 50 and 100 jobs throughout peak and off-peak seasons.
But despite Friday night’s festive atmosphere, some in the community have sharp criticism of the history and location of the land where the expansion will take place.
“This is a land of where sharecroppers were,” said Tonya Stephens, a Bowie resident. “Their family and their descendants are still there. The formerly enslaved built its own colony right here and they are still here.”
Stephens is the president of the Seven Crossings Homeowners Association, and lives across the street from where the groundbreaking took place.
She says the descendants, along with other people inside of her neighborhood, didn’t know about the plans for the expansion.
“We just all kind of wondered, how did we not know this?” Stephens said. “[Residents] are used to knowing about things in the county, and we just don’t like how it happened. I’m not even going to say we would be opposed. We don’t know enough to be opposed.”
A long line of cars stretched along the road as people tried to make it to the groundbreaking. Some of those cars ended up parking across the street, inside the Seven Crossings neighborhood.
“It was a complete and utter mess,” Stephens said. “It is a country road, meant for the seven families that live back there to come in and out. Tonight was a complete and utter nightmare.”
News4 attempted to speak with the County Executive about resident concerns, but did not get a response.
Bowie city leaders say the expansion will strengthen the area’s tax base and focus on economic development, and want to ensure communication moving forward is more inclusive.
“When you have things like Six Flags closing and different flagships turning into something different, you have to start to reinvent,” Roxy Ndebumadu, the District 4 Councilmember for the Bowie City Council, said.
“We’re trying to reach people where they’re at,” Ndebumadu said. “Not everyone checks their mail every day, so I acknowledge that, while there might not have been notices that were sent out, that residents might not have received them because of the now information style.”
Until then, residents are eager for that information.
“I want to see the plans,” Stephens said. “I want to see where people would enter from for a winery.”
from Local – NBC4 Washington https://ift.tt/omEQj20
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