An open letter to city Parks Commissioner Veronica White:
I hope you received my July 2 letter regarding the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground, on 46th Avenue between 164th and 165th streets in Flushing. The conservancy, of which I am a co-chair, is looking forward to your visit to the site in the near future.
There has been progress made in cleaning up this cemetery, which is under the auspices of your agency. There are other issues that we need to talk to you about, including making sure the cemetery is locked at night, maintenance concerns, replacement of the four headstones and erection of other headstones to honor the known and unknown dead who rest at the burial ground. Borough President Helen Marshall has set aside funds to pay for some of the headstone work.
My concern now regards a letter I received from a woman who lives across the street from the cemetery, on 164th Street. She reports that rowdy young people congregate in the cemetery at night and frequently stay until 4 a.m., disturbing residents living in the area. She claims that the police have been notified of the problem, but there has been no response from them that she is aware of.
I am sending a separate letter to Deputy Inspector Brian Maguire, who heads the 109th Precinct, which covers the neighborhood where the cemetery is located. I will request that he look into this problem, if he has not already done so.
The cemetery must be respected at all times. These young people must not be allowed to loiter outside the cemetery late at night either, when the gates should be locked. This problem of unruly youth in and/or around the burial ground would never be tolerated at other resting places like Flushing Cemetery, which is across from the burial ground.
The young people, involved in this problem evidently enter the cemetery at night because the four gates are not always secured. They must be locked at night, every night. This also applies to the gates of the playground north of the cemetery. Anyone can jump over the fence separating the two sites.
This is the responsibility of your agency. I contacted a Parks employee who I was told is responsible to lock the gates of the cemetery on a daily basis. He claims he cannot always do this because of all of his other responsibilities at various park sites in northeast Queens.
This excuse is not acceptable. Arrangements must be made to secure the cemetery so the dead are respected and that adjacent residents can sleep at night. The burial ground site is not far from Kissena Park. Why not assign a Parks person working at Kissena Park to open and close the burial ground and adjacent playground on a daily basis?
The Parks Department owes a debt to those who rest at the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground. In 1935, the city excavated the cemetery, turning up bones of the deceased and pennies that had been placed over the deceased people’s eyes. Those bones were desecrated and the pennies were stolen. The grave stones disappeared, stones paid for by the families of the deceased people.
It behooves all of us — especially you, commissioner — to do all that can be done to rectify the injustice and disrespect visited upon those resting in this burial ground. How would you feel if this desecration happened where your departed loved ones rest?
I look forward to your response and visit to the site. Please contact me at 718-224-2357 at your convenience. The conservancy would appreciate a written response as well.
Mandingo Osceola Tshaka
Co-Chair
Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground Conservancy
Flushing
