Last weekend's reunion of the Gravel Hill community shows that a small group of people can successfully prevent powerful interests from overrunning their community. But it also comes with an obligatory tale of caution that such victories aren't necessarily permanent and continued vigilance is a necessity.
For those unfamiliar with the story, here's a brief recap: In the late 1980s, a group of politically well-connected local business people decided to turn a former gravel mining pit into a landfill that would accept construction and demolition rubble from Maryland and other East Coast states. The location, known as Gravel Hill, is a predominantly African-American community that predates the Civil War. Residents were rightly concerned that the truck traffic from the rubblefill would literally drive them out of their homes.
Initially, county and state officials, including a majority of the county council, saw nothing wrong with the rubblefill plan. Gravel Hill residents, joined by some of their neighbors, persisted in fighting back. In 1990, several veteran county council members, who had supported the rubblefill, including the father of one of the rubblefill partners, and one of the father's allies, were summarily "un-elected" in one of the greatest mass changes in 20th century Harford County politics.
Within a year, the new county council revoked prior approvals for the rubblefill and tightened zoning restrictions on such activities. The rubblefill owners sued and sued and filed zoning appeals and sued some more and, as of this writing, have lost, lost and lost. The litigious phase of the fight continues, however, with the county government defending itself from a $100 million damage suit.
Many people on both sides of the Gravel Hill rubblefill fight have entered the ranks of senior citizens. Some are deceased. Others have moved away, but still make it back to the reunions. A quarter century is, after all, a whole generation. While much has changed, the Gravel Hill fight continues to be waged.
One of those who came to prominence as a result of Gravel Hill purge in 1990 was Barry Glassman, who was elected to his first political office, the county council.
During a reunion service Sunday at St. James AME Church at Gravel Hill, Harford County Executive Barry Glassman pledged that county government will continue to aggressively defend the latest lawsuit brought by the rubblefill owners.
"We are still in that struggle. We're still fighting for what is right," he said.
Here's an example where right, not might, came out on top. Let's hope it stays that way.