The following is reader-submitted commentary by local artist Cheryl Miele, aka Chelly Seashore. Ms. Miele sheds Light on the full-blown, horrific, and racist Corruption Around Sea Breeze Apartments.
What occurred at Sea Breeze Apartments (Section 8/HUD housing) did not happen suddenly. That waterfront property deteriorated for years under the watch of multiple agencies tasked with enforcing safety and sanitary standards, all of whom continued to pass inspections while conditions worsened and residents were left at risk until condemnation made displacement inevitable.
Myrtle Landing is on the same deliberate trajectory of neglect that led directly to the condemnation and displacement at Sea Breeze.
I am a disabled, low-income resident of Myrtle Landing Apartments in Cape Charles, and I am writing to raise serious concerns about a familiar and deeply troubling pattern of neglect-driven displacement.
At Myrtle Landing, there is visible water damage directing runoff toward building foundations, chronic moisture problems, and long-term deterioration that no reasonable inspection should overlook. These are not minor or cosmetic issues. They are structural conditions that affect safety and habitability.
I have been fighting this issue completely alone for more than a year. During that time, I have contacted Virginia Housing; the Northampton County Building and Zoning Department; the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD); Northampton County’s Economic Development office; the Town of Cape Charles Planning Department; the Town of Cape Charles Zoning and Building Official; the Town Manager; the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ); and the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).
Despite this extensive outreach across town, county, state, and federal levels, I have been stonewalled, gaslit, and ignored — repeatedly while this issue continues.
Most recently, an inspection was conducted by Navigate Affordable Housing, the intermediary between residents and HUD, on January 17. Despite the long-standing, unresolved nature of these issues and the obvious evidence documented over a year, the case was closed just four days later, on January 21. I have since been told that there will be “monitoring” or “inspections” over the next three months. I do not believe this will occur in any meaningful way, or that it will be made by anyone actually qualified to make such decisions. If a case is formally closed, there is no mechanism for real follow-up — only continued delay and eventual silence, which has been the consistent pattern. These “inspections” are only addressing MY apartment, NOT the obvious issues that directly affect the entire property.
Over the last several years, renovation work at Myrtle Landing was focused on appearances rather than substance — making the property look presentable while underlying problems such as water intrusion and foundation-related concerns were never addressed or even acknowledged, rather made worse. I have plenty of documentation and research to prove my allegations. Anyone with an understanding of such can see the blatant evidence
Money and land value are the motives here — not incompetence, not accidents, and not oversight. This is displacement by neglect. When poor and disabled residents occupy land that is increasingly valuable in a tourist town, prolonged neglect becomes a convenient tool to make displacement both inevitable and deliberate.
Cape Charles should not wait for another condemnation before asking hard questions, but they show 0 concern. Accountability must come before more residents are forced out under the guise of safety after years of institutional inaction.
Several agencies have formally requested continuations under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, invoking the additional seven-working-day extension permitted under § 2.2-3704(B)(4), while other agencies have not yet responded because they remain within their legally allowed, longer FOIA response timeframes.
If the full inspection and compliance records for Sea Breeze were obtained, they would certainly document years of approved inspections, sign-offs, and regulatory inaction that allowed the property to deteriorate to the point of being uninhabitable and condemned. Those records would show exactly who passed what, when, and under what authority — and they would provide the paper trail that explains how a property was permitted to fail so completely under the watch of agencies charged with preventing precisely that outcome.
I am reaching out to the Cape Charles Mirror specifically because I have read your prior reporting calling out the Town of Cape Charles for refusing to provide public records and information related to embezzlement and misuse of funds. That same resistance to transparency is evident here. The inspection, compliance, and FOIA records already exist, and they can show how repeated approvals and inaction allowed dangerous conditions to persist. This is precisely the kind of issue local journalism exists to examine. Whether those records are scrutinized publicly now, or only after another condemnation and displacement, is a choice — and one that will define accountability in this town.
In addition, Northampton County and the Town of Cape Charles governmental agencies have repeatedly redirected responsibility back and forth between one another regarding who is obligated to produce the FOIA records I requested, creating further delay and obstruction.
About the Author
“Displacement by neglect”.
Yep, that is exactly what happened to Seabreeze. The Town Council turned it into one of the most valuable piece of real estate on the Eastern Shore, and gave it to one of their buddies.
Expect the same to happen here.
The current manager of myrle landing was also once the manager of Seabreeze and yes she will pass inspection because don’t know what she doing and she racist she be stealing money an rent
The elephant in the room that everyone sidesteps is the people running Cape Charles are racist. They look down their noses at black people and for the most part all locals. Unless of course you are involved with real estate business. We’re being pushed out . It’s called gentrification!
GENTRIFICATION IS PRECISELY WHAT IT IS! And they’re blatantly obvious about it. I vaguely remember reading an article about zoning being pushed out of town’s limits for the 3-4 low income developments in the works for the ESVA.
I don’t dispute your claim at all. I’m white, and I’m fighting this fight for all of my neighbors here at Myrtle Landing, whether they like me or not, and regardless of the color of your skin. Wrong is wrong, and those that remain silent are just as culpable.
I must add this, it’s not just racism, and really it’s not that at all. Before you hate on me for saying this, PLEASE educate yourself about what Caste means. What were discussing here is THAT. It is CASTE. Check out the book by Isabell Wilkerson titled, CASTE & The Origins of Our Discontent. This author calls out the CASTE system and how it’s often confused with racism. Bottom line, rich people don’t want poor people near them●
Cherri, you are exactly right. We miss the diversity of people who used to live in our block. Now there are a bunch of big empty STR houses where families used to live.
I’ll give a small example of what that feels like on the ground. Before Thanksgiving, I was in line at the grocery store behind a very wealthy woman with only a handful of items, but she spread them across the entire belt. When the belt moved, I placed my items and set the divider—angled the same way her groceries were. She picked up the divider, slammed it repeatedly on the belt, looked at me, and said, “The line is blurred enough!” That kind of entitlement and hostility over basic shared space says a lot about why people don’t feel welcome here. We only shared the grocery line conveyor belt, and she couldn’t handle it! Could you imagine us living next door to one another!? She’s very fortunate that I was too in shock to respond and also thought perhaps she’d lost her ever loving little mind. Yet I’M generally considered the aggressive one LOL
Housing should be safe and stable — period. I’m sorry residents are dealing with this, and I hope the right people are held accountable. Sending support and strength to everyone affected.
No one will be held accountable. The “good ole boy” network takes care of its own.
Cape Charles Town Hall must be cleaned and sanitized of the poison holding office and employment in this town.
Accountability doesn’t depend on permission. It depends on documentation, persistence, and citizens refusing to disengage. When those entrusted with public responsibility fail to carry out their civic duty, they do not belong in those roles. Retaliation has already started, and it doesn’t scare me. This is exactly why sustained public engagement matters. I’m not disengaging. I’ll continue to pursue accountability through the proper channels.
I’m calling on others to speak up, write complaints, and call out the corruption and bullshit—because the more citizens who get involved, the quicker this gets done.
Can the Mirror do a follow-up article on where the former SeaBreeze residents are now?
Why? You didn’t care while it was happening. You didn’t lend a hand when it was needed to move belongings from there. You didn’t ask for the last two years while everyone struggled and worried about where they would land and how they were going to make it. So why do you care now??
I moved to CC from Exmore in October 2024, therefore I wasn’t aware of the bullshit I’m bringing up now about here, back then. Hellllerrr?! I’m sorry I wasn’t your neighbor there, because if I had been, I’d a been doing the exact thing I’m doing now which you have 0 clue of the work and money I’ve put into it, so carry your attitude!
One of the last Seabreeze residents told me that many of the people living there were families with children, and that most were displaced to Norfolk and Virginia Beach because there’s so little affordable housing available on the Eastern Shore. At the same time, Myrtle Landing is designated for elderly and disabled residents—not families with children—yet children clearly live there. That disconnect highlights how limited housing options are forcing families out while policies on the ground don’t match reality.