Cemetery Fumes Over Health Code Violations
A summons issued to All Faiths Cemetery by the city’s Department of Health for having standing water at locations throughout its Middle Village confines are unfair and should be buried immediately, according to its president and CEO.
Daniel Austin told the Times Newsweekly that the Health Department sent the cemetery notice on Monday, May 21 of the violation, which carries a $600 fine, after inspectors visited the 225-acre graveyard on May 10 and observed water in vases near tombstones and monuments.
Austin stated that the Health Department claimed the cemetery was in violation of rules put in place fol- lowing the West Nile virus outbreak in 1999 which prohibits property owners-including cemeteries- from leaving standing water in receptacles of any kind. The water is a proven breeding ground for mosquitoes which may carry the sometimes fatal illness.
The New York Daily News quoted a Health Department statement on Tuesday which claimed that standing water “in vases and flower pots” at All Faiths “contained decaying organic material and mosquito larvae.”
But Austin charged that the cemetery has taken numerous steps to ensure that it was in compliance with the law, including having graveside vases with holes and sand in the bottom to allow for proper drainage.
“It is physically impossible to check every vase in 250,000-plus graves,” the cemetery president, a retired NYPD detective, told this paper. “We check it whenever we can, but it can’t be done in a day.”
He also noted that the cemetery could not stop some visitors from bringing their own flowers-and water-with them when visiting the gravesites of the more than 541,000 people interred at All Faiths.
The date of the inspection also proved to be unfair, Austin charged, as it had previously rained and many visitors had already left flowers and vases at gravesites in advance of Mother’s Day.
“This is all about money,” Austin said, pointing out that the summons indicated that All Faiths could face a fine of up to $1,200 if it chose to protest the violation with the Environmental Control Board (ECB).”
“To me, that’s extortion,” he added. “The City of New York is not concerned about public health or safety.” He went on to note that he would fight the summons, as he has “a fiduciary responsiblity to the lot owners and those buried here. I can’t in good conscience write a check and make them (the city) go away.”
Austin, on behalf of All Faiths, is scheduled to protest the ticket with the ECB at a June 15 hearing.
