    
Aurora
Regular Poster
Username: Aurora
Post Number: 33
Registered: 04-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 - 10:33 pm: | 
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Maryland Businesswoman Shauna Anderson Sues County, City and District Agencies For 18 Million Dollars For Deliberate and Sustained Efforts to Shut Down Her Chitlin Market
Hyattsville, MD (BlackNews.com) - Paul W. Gardner, II, Esq., filed a lawsuit on behalf of Shauna Anderson against The City of Hyattsville Office of Code Enforcement, Prince George's County, Maryland Division of Environmental Health, Food Protection Program and The Washington Suburban Commission. Shauna believes that these agencies deliberately and continuously attempted to shut down her Chitlin sales and stop her from opening her Chitlin Restaurant on Ager Road and Mobile Unit in Hyattsville, Maryland.
"I'm not just doing this for me but for all the small ethnic businesses around the country that are trying to survive under deliberate efforts from zoning or government agencies to shut them down. Some of us just don't fit into a developer's idea of what's acceptable," Shauna Anderson passionately spoke out on the issue. "It was clear to me after former county councilman Peter Shapiro expressed outrage about an episode of ABC's "Commander in Chief" where the fictional president arrived outside a "Chitlin and Pork Chop" restaurant to address the violence in Hyattsville, Maryland. Peter Shapiro had the incredible nerve to say: a chitlin restaurant "is a negative stereotype of a poor, dangerous black neighborhood."
"I knew right then and there what I was up against. The developers and government cronies of Hyattsville, Maryland did not want my restaurant in their community. They have a prejudiced view of what Chitlins represent – they are uneducated. Chitlins are a treasured and historic symbol of our history, they bring families together. I could have continued to build my online business selling Chitlins across the nation but I also chose to open a restaurant for my beloved customers. I did it for them. I want to be a symbol for all the men and women out there who have a dream to open their own business. I wanted my business to be visible and accessible to my customers," said Anderson. Shauna's life history and Chitlin Market documents were accepted in the Smithsonian's Anacostia Museum in April 2003.
Trouble started with a bomb threat in 1997 that was investigated by the FBI. The bomb threat and hate email theoretically should have been fairly easy to trace as it came through AOL. The FBI never communicated a conclusion to the case to Shauna.
Shauna's lawsuit is based upon claims of harassment, tortious interference with contract and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In layman's terms, she was not only prevented from opening her business but suffered emotionally because of the scare tactics, constant intrusions and financial burden of not being able to open up her restaurant. Shauna is a tough and successful businesswoman but the combined pressures of a city and county government was too much to bear.
TIMELINE OF EVENTS:
The timeline of events is long but here is an abbreviated list – please request more information directly from the media contact:
* October 1997, received a hate letter entitled, "Black Sambo" via US Mail.
* November 1997, received a bomb threat e-mail. Shauna was informed that there was no resolution to the investigation, then utilized the Freedom of Information Act to request documents regarding the origin of the 1997 bomb threat and received a letter from the FBI stating that there was never an investigation filed in 1997 or thereafter following a manual and automated search.
* 1998, Break in and vandalism - computers stolen.
* 2000, Shauna closed the storefront and went online with her business.
* Spring 2001, USDA inquiry about status of product inspection stamp and where she purchased her products.
* April 2003, Shauna was inducted into the Smithsonian Museum for her work as a pioneer in the soul food industry.
* April 2004, Shauna purchased a commercial property at 5711 Ager Road in Hyattsville, Maryland to operate The Chitlin Market. Then Shauna spent more than two hundred thousand dollars renovating the property. This property is located across from the Hyattsville Metro Station in the West Hyattsville Transit District Overlay Zone ("TDOZ"). The goal of the TDOZ zoning is to create an economic base for new shops, stores and cultural entertainment venues that will enhance the quality of life for everyone in Hyattsville and its immediate neighbors. All properties in the TDOZ are zoned as commercial properties.
CONTACT:
Paul W Gardiner II Esq
410-545-0470 |
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