TAMPA, Fla. — When word spread that the city of Tampa foreclosed on a historic Black cemetery and sent it to auction where a property developer purchased the 20-acre site for $18,000, there was outrage throughout the community.
Now, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor says the city will take ownership of Memorial Park Cemetery.
"We're very confident we're going to be able to take ownership of Memorial, as we have done with four other cemeteries in the city of Tampa, and again, make sure that they are maintained, and that the individuals that are there now and will be there in the future have the proper respect that they deserve," she told 10 Investigates.
This would be a step beyond the mayor's 2022 announcement in the cemetery that the city would be taking over maintenance for the site in wake of its owner's 2019 death.
City ownership of Memorial Park Cemetery would help protect the cemetery in perpetuity and prevent it from suffering the same fate as other erased and destroyed Black cemeteries in the area found under public housing apartments, schools and businesses.
The mayor's statement about Memorial Park comes as Tampa City Council leaders prepare to hear a report Thursday about possible ways to purchase the century-old cemetery from Alexis Arteaga, a, investor who told 10 Investigates he buys and sells auctioned properties as part of his business.
At Thursday’s City Community Redevelopment Area meeting, CRA staff is scheduled to deliver a report to council members about using CRA funds to purchase the cemetery.
However, this concerns some fighting to save the cemetery because CRAs don't have the same power as the city government.
CRAs are special districts with boards that generally work on economic development in distressed areas with the help of Tax Increment Financing. They don’t generally purchase cemeteries. CRA experts also say they can only do what is in their Community Development Plan.
It is unclear how purchasing Memorial Park Cemetery might fit into a local CRA plan.
Norene Copeland Miller, who has multiple family members buried in the cemetery, says she would like to see the city take ownership so the cemetery can be owned in perpetuity.
“The city of Tampa should do what is right. Purchase the cemetery and keep the cemetery in this community,” she said.
Aileen Henderson of The Cemetery Society agrees with Copeland Miller that it should be the city, not the CRA purchasing the historic site.
"The CRA should not be purchasing property. It's not the intent of community redevelopment," she said.
Henderson first learned Memorial Park had been sold at an auction after reaching out to the city to schedule a cemetery cleanup. An email shows where a city staffer told her she would have to now go through the new owner.
"I didn't know it was up for sale. I didn't know they were looking for a new owner," she said.
Court records show the cemetery was set for sale twice before it went a final time and was sold in January 2023.
Copeland Miller, who has been active with CRA boards, says she never got word of the sale.
"I started to have some distrust for the city because we were meeting, and they never told us. So, it was very concerning to me," she said.
Thursday's CRA meeting is set for 9 a.m. at Tampa City Hall.
Emerald Morrow is an investigative reporter with 10 Tampa Bay. Like her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter. You can also email her at emorrow@10TampaBay.com. To read more about the search for lost African American burial grounds in the Tampa Bay area, head to wtsp.com/erased.