Are there bodies buried next to the Marti Colon Cemetery? Activists want answers before area is rezoned
TAMPA, Fla. - Bay Area activists want the city of Tampa to hold off on plans to develop a vacant lot adjacent to the historic Marti Colon Cemetery out of fear that people are buried underneath it.
"The majority of the people that are buried here are some of our founding immigrant families that have helped establish the city of West Tampa," said Bay Area activist Missy Martin. "A lot of Hispanics, Italians, and Cubans."
Martin's great-grandparents and other ancestors are buried in the cemetery.
She grew passionate about the cemetery after noticing in 2018, it had somehow been listed on Craigs List.
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"That was the first slap in the face and that’s why I got involved," she explained.
Before Columbus Drive was built, the headstones used to span about a block northward.
Last year, a portion of it was purchased by the city of Tampa.
Before Columbus Drive was built, its headstones spanned across the road, into the block north of it.
"For 100 years we’ve been hearing rumors of misplaced bodies, double and triple buried bodies, and possibly bodies buried in this back parcel," Martin said about the 40 to 50,000 sq ft parcel south of the cemetery that the Chabad CHAI of South Tampa is looking to rezone and build its own Jewish cemetery.
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She said, "We need to know, are there bodies buried back here?"
A rezoning hearing is scheduled on March 28 at 5 p.m. to discuss the Chabad's request to rezone the parcel and allow its cemetery to be developed.
Last week, a ground-penetrating radar study was conducted on the plot that Martin believes was funded by the Chabad.
"The orange flags were some ground penetrating radar studies that were done last week. We haven’t seen the report, we don’t know the results of the report," she said. "It’s a lot more than we thought we were going to see is what they call ‘anomalies’."
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Barbara Diaz Juskowski grew up across the street from the vacant lot.
The Chabad CHAI of South Tampa is looking to rezone and build its own Jewish cemetery.
"We were always told that there were bodies buried here," she explained. "That’s not a new thing to me. I just assumed that they had already explored that."
A rezoning hearing is scheduled on March 28 at 5 p.m. to discuss the Chabad's request to rezone the parcel and allow its cemetery to be developed.
FOX 13 reached out to Chabad CHAI of South Tampa but did not hear back.
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