This cemetery is next to my house. You hardly need to bury people here; you could simply conceal them in the overgrowth.
The city owns this place; Green Cemetery it’s called. A fitting name, to be sure, but I suspect the irony is lost on the folks over at City Hall.
With the exception of Lafayette No. 2 ,in the Garden District, natch, city-owned cemeteries are generally pretty easy to identify in this town. They’re the ones that are falling down... and can’t get up.
Yes, my sitting here in this tropical overgrowth smacks of stunt journalism, but it also illustrates the point better than mere words can do. It’s a jungle in here.
Urban planners, preservationists, historians, tourism promoters, photographers and likely most all regular folks would be inclined to count the cemeteries of New Orleans among the city’s crown jewels.
Hard to say what the city actually thinks of them. If its present condition is any indication, it calls to mind the words of Saints safety Darren Sharper, in defining his current relationship with the team: This cemetery just ain’t feeling the love.
Or maybe it is, at long last. No one has been here to cut the grass in months. A worker on the grounds today told me that his company, Safeway Contractors, was hired by the city a couple months ago to maintain its six cemeteries. He told me today was the first time he’d ever seen this place.
Yes, there were workers here today. Several of them. Whether or not the arrival of the grass cutting cavalry today had anything to do with my numerous ornery phone calls to the city’s Department of Public Works this week, is anybody’s guess.
Coincidence, I’m sure.
The Department of Public Works is the custodian of this sacred place. And the neglect and indifference reflected by this tangled mess is the ultimate form of disrespect to those who lay here. Is this the best we can do?
The tone and attitude of a municipality are established at the top. Certainly there must be some dregs of pride left at City Hall. Assuming that there is, I make my appeal, here and now, with all due respect for – and apologies to – former President Ronald Reagan.
For I declare: MR NAGIN, TEAR DOWN THESE WEEDS!
