WASHINGTON – Members of Alabama’s federal delegation are calling for the historic Montgomery bus station, home to the Freedom Rides Museum, to be removed from the list of hundreds of properties the federal General Services Administration planned last week to sell. The list has since been deleted from the GSA site.
The Montgomery bus station was one of six Alabama properties on the GSA’s “non-core property list” published Tuesday marked for “disposal.” The list had more than 443 properties nationwide. It was deleted Wednesday. The website now reads, “Non-core property list (Coming soon).”
U.S. Reps. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, and Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, sent a letter to the GSA Thursday asking for the Freedom Rides Museum to be removed from that list.
“The museum serves as an essential historical landmark that not only honors the legacy of the Freedom Riders but also educates the public about our nation’s struggle for equality and justice,” Sewell and Figures wrote.
The museum honors those who fought for civil rights during the Freedom Rides of 1961. It’s the site where a violent mob attacked Freedom Riders on May 20, 1961.
“Given its historical and cultural significance, we strongly encourage the GSA to remove the Freedom Rides Museum from the list. It is crucial that we preserve such landmarks, which are integral to understanding our shared history,” Sewell and Figures wrote.
The property list comes as President Donald Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency continue to identify ways to shrink the federal government.
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt said her office is in touch with the White House and is confident the museum won’t be targeted.
“I have been in communication with the Administration and this has been resolved,” Britt told Alabama Daily News. “The Montgomery Bus Station and Freedom Rides Museum will not be on GSA’s non-core list.”
Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday said it’s too early to tell how these efforts will play out in the state.
“We’ll wait and see if, in fact, it impacts Alabama,” Ivey said, not talking about any specific proposed cut. “But I support President Trump’s initiative and his efforts to make government less costly and small.”
The GSA website page that had the list displayed earlier in the week said, “disposing of these assets helps eliminate costly maintenance and allows us to reinvest in high-quality work environments that support agency missions.”
Other Alabama properties that were on the list include a parking garage, federal building and ship chandlery in Mobile, the G.W. Andrews Federal Building and Courthouse in Opelika and a site in Dothan. The Wayback Machine, a website of digital archives, shows the full list of properties as they appeared before the page was taken down.
Alabama Daily News’ Trisha Powell Crain contributed to this report.