Henrico County is a mostly suburban county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It surrounds the city of Richmond north of the James River, and contains most of the eastern, northern and western suburbs on that side of the river.
The 8400 block of Hungary Road in Glen Allen is home to the Islamic Center of Richmond. That area is adjacent to what is loosely known as the “West End” of Richmond, and is considered desirable for relocation by those who want to escape the cultural charms of the heart of Richmond and place their children in schools of recognized academic quality.
Years ago, when I used to work in Henrico, there were few mosques in evidence. Since I left, however, they have been sprouting like mushrooms all over the county, and the Islamic Center of Richmond is one of them. (Before you ask: No, it is nowhere near the cemetery where Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the late Boston Marathon bomber, is buried. That’s in Caroline County, a couple of counties north on the I95-US1 corridor.)
Readers who are familiar with the work of Gavin Boby will remember the jihadist Muslim tactic known as the “Parking Jihad”, in which infidel residential neighbors of mosques are harassed, inconvenienced, and intimidated by mosque-goers, who park their cars aggressively and illegally on private property or in no-parking zones. Coupled with other strategies, it is part of a process in which non-Muslims are gradually driven out of Islamic enclaves so that believers may move in and replace them.
According to Right Side News, a Parking Jihad is now being waged against the neighbors of the Islamic Center of Richmond who live on a private road. This map will help readers familiar with the Commonwealth — and especially those who live in the Greater Richmond area — orient themselves:
Below is the complete text of the report by Sylvia Hoehns Wright. See the original for photos and a brief video of one of the incidents:
Virginia Henrico Mosque, A Recipe for Disaster
by Sylvia Hoehns WrightHenrico County VA, July 16 2013 — Described by eyewitness as “Islamic Center of Richmond attendees leaving the ICR property by means of private Hoehns driveway appeared that they were trying to force a Hoehns Lakeview Farm resident’s vehicle into the oncoming traffic of Hungary Road”, this event — one of many hostile activities reported by surrounding community residents to local law enforcement — initiated by ICR’s land agent Yunus Vohra and his colleagues resulted in a formal charge of disorderly conduct. (example in photo of parking jihad)
Residents, daily impacted by ICR events, describe this incident as one of the reasons why they refer to this site — Masjid Yousuf located in the 8400 block of Hungary Road — as a recipe for disaster.
James Lafferty of the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force who attended Henrico County public hearings says,
I continue to be concerned about the role the DOJ (Department of Justice) played in muscling this through local officials. You (addressing local residents) are clearly right on principle. But this is not about principle. It is about the exercise of raw political power.
Typically, the only thing which holds us back is the fear of being called bigots by those who are wrong. We — all — benefit from a full public examination of what they (ICR) are doing and why they are doing it.
Disturbed by queries from residents of his district, Majority Leader for the Congress of the USA Eric Cantor solicited DOJ’s opinion. As a result, Thomas E. Perez Assistant Attorney General responded, “complaints related to this site appear to be the result of a failure to be respectful of the property rights of nearby property owners and the surrounding community’s expectation of public safety and welfare.
“While Henrico County is operating under a consent decree issued by the United District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia related to a dispute to rezone property to build a mosque on Impala Drive, the Hungary Road site’s issues fall outside of this purview. Enforcement of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) should not interfere with the County’s standard regulations and procedures.”
Since public safety and welfare issues which were documented during a County Plan of Development hearing remain unresolved, area residents filed a community appeal. Although they only requested “approval for not simply a ‘place of worship’ but a SAFE place of worship for all whom frequent as well as reside in our community”, community pleas for adequate support parking and/or agreement to scale down ‘intensity of use’ to balance available vehicle parking; and amenities such as fencing and/or landscaping that will shield adjacent properties from lights/noise and/or enable adjacent property privacy rights — were again denied.
It was during this appeal hearing that Khader Allahbaksh, a member of the ICR Board, referred to his Indian heritage (pdf) and remarked “ICR will sweeten the Henrico community and strive to provide a safe environment”. Yet, more than a year after formal hearings, community residents do not find Allahbaksh’s prediction their reality.
Instead, their community is plagued by ICR members who choose to participate in activities which block residential homes from access to public services such as emergency, interfere with the safe use of the community’s school bus stop, result in actual as well as ‘near miss’ vehicle accidents, result in reckless endangerment to others; and specifically, entice others to trespass into private residential areas.
[Video Clip: ICR land agent Yunus Vohra deliberately parks and vacates his vehicle (parking jihad) in single lane private road Hoehns to attend an ICR event prohibiting ingress/egress of nine non-public road front homes and access of public services such as emergency to these homes.]
When confronted concerning these issues, ICR leadership committee member Assadullah Kahn denied ICR’s involvement. Their land agent Yunus Vohra not only chose to deny but issued an email to Henrico County appointed and elected representatives, staff and area residents in which he called those who confront him and his colleagues liars.
Area resident Paul Thorne of the Brittany Subdivision located across from the Hungary Road mosque site says,
“The Islamic Center of Richmond was approved for development of a 30,277 square foot building on the old Stone’s Nursery property on a 5.2 acre lot, on a very busy Hungary Road amidst surrounding quiet neighborhoods. The Henrico Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors have unexplainably shown a ‘blind eye’ to concerns from the community over traffic safety, noise, and aesthetic appearance of the huge proposed ICR structure.
“While as a community, we have rallied as many voices as possible in an attempt to get Henrico County and ICR to slow down and look at our concerns more closely. This has not been an attempt to stop the Mosque, but to bring common sense into a situation that appears unreasonable for the area and its surroundings. We base our concerns on Mosque style events which are presently held in the site’s existing limited-use structures.”
Construction plans for the ICR Hungary Road Mosque have been resubmitted for County approval. Proposing to construct a phase I, approximately 10,000 of the overall 30,000 square foot structure, these plans are undergoing agency review and available for public review and input. Those interested, are advised to contact Kevin D. Wilhite, AICP project manager for Henrico County Planning Department at 804-501-4989.
To express comment to legislative reps, contact Richard W. Glover, Office — (804) 501-4208 Brookland District Supervisor and/or STATE reps John M. O’Bannon, III and Walter A. Stosch at their respective offices.
Sylvia Hoehns Wright, a spokesperson for her community Hoehns Lakeview Farms, agrees with the neighborhood assessment of this situation urging all to contact their legislative reps to ensure a SAFE community for those who dwell as well as travel through this area.
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Parking “Jihad” and other behaviors Gavin Boby has exposed are part of what is known in law enforcement and Real Estate as Block Busting and is completely illegal.
Block Busting is when people in the real estate field use fear to get people to move out of neighborhoods so they can snap up the homes at bargan prices. Originally the fear of black people moving into neighborhoods was cynically exploited for this purpose.
It appears these mosques that move into non muslim working class neighborhoods, where the homes are already not at a premium price, are part of a strategy of Block Busting.
They start without having enough parking for the attendees, so the attendees park in other peoples driveways. They start without that call to prayer then slowly increase it’s volume and frequency to the point that it becomes unbearable.
Mr. Boby recounted how men will show up at old ladies houses and make a ridiculously small offer for the house, telling the woman it will just become harder to and harder to sell and will keep loosing value.
These behaviors show the Mosques that move into non muslim working class neighborhoods are an integral part of predatory and extremely criminal Block Busting schemes.
Block Busting is 100 percent illegal.
Let me reiterate: The mosques in non muslm working class neighborhoods are an integral part of criminal conspiracies. It is not hard to show this. Block Busting is not a new phenomenon and law enforcement, especially in America, has long been aware of it and has prosecuted the criminals who do it.
The mosques going up in non muslim working class neighborhoods should be attacked on the basis that they are the central element of the criminal enterprise of Block Busting.
Everyone associated with these mosques should be investigated and then charged and prosecuted.
Furthermore Block Busting has an ugly association with racism. So these mosques are intentionally doing what people who cynically exploit racism for profit have done – while at the same time cynically trying to appeal to tolerance.
How do people fight back, then? Especially when the media is against them and the police and courts are loathe to act?
here is what you do. when they block your street or driveway have the cars towed. get together as a group and put a tow company on retainer. you will be surprised how fast a tow truck arrives then. start having block parties on the street when the muslims appear. this is where you let your teens amp up their rock music and the girls wear their bikinis, all this to the smell of barbeque cooking on the grills. at the end have a paryer meeting in the street and praise jesus at the top of your lungs. keep this up for awhile and i guarantee you they tone things down. if they don’t simply [redacted tactic] and have at them when they drive down the street. be disrespectful of the muslims, litter their property with discarded condoms and beer bottles, they will get the message and move on. either that or sell your homes for next to nothing and move. americans have to be willing to stand up for their neighborhoods or you will lose them, period. quit being so nice and learn to fight for your neighboorhood. we had this problem with a mosque here and these tactics work like a charm. just learn to tell the police you did not see a thing. stick together and they will leave.
The barbecues must be haram, pig-meat only and plenty of it.
Is it at all realistic to call tow-trucks on the imbeciles? Or perhaps someone has a truck and can document the parking infraction and subsequent removal to a more desirable location? Hopefully the lawfully-minded citizens receive some closure on this issue.
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This issue remains unresolved – we had trespass charges enabled by a magistrate and then, charges were not enforced – as a result, the entrance to our property experiences vandalism and in fact, after repairing the landscape a ‘dead cat’ was placed in this area – daily violent 3rd world behavior occurs – because the Mosque property has two paved entrances and there is absolutely no reason for any of this membership to be in our area, all behavior speaks poorly for those attend services. It certainly has affected my perception of the Richmond Islamic Community.