Not-So-Benign Neglect

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If you listen to PARD's complaints about the gravesite gardens and memorials, one could assume that the Austin cemeteries are maintained in peak, pristine condition and the only thing preventing them from reaching utter perfection is an occasional stone border or unauthorized rosebush. In fact, the cemetery I visit regularly, Austin Memorial Park (AMP), is in extremely poor condition due to years of neglect and poor maintenance practices by PARD. All pictures accompanying this page were taken by me at AMP; I did not have to go searching for these examples of neglect, as these are what I see every time on my way to visit the graves of my parents and my niece. The condition of AMP is an insult to those who entrusted PARD with the final resting places of their loved ones, blatantly disrespectful to those who rest there, and a disgrace to the City of Austin. If PARD spent just a portion of the time, energy, and resources it has expended over the past nine years harassing holders of graveside memorials, avoiding public input, and throwing money at pointless consultants on actual maintenance, I cannot help but think AMP and other Austin cemeteries would be in much better shape.

PARD has not only a moral, but a legal, duty to properly maintain the city cemeteries. Under Section 713.011 (Maintenance Of Municipal Cemeteries), Texas Health and Safety Code, a municipality that operates or has jurisdiction over a public cemetery must maintain the cemetery in a condition that does not endanger the public health, safety, comfort, or welfare. This includes:

(b) A municipality's responsibility to maintain a cemetery under this section includes:

(1) repairing and maintaining any fences, walls, buildings, roads, or other improvements;

(2) leveling or straightening markers or memorial; 

(3) properly maintaining lawns, shrubbery, and other plants;

(4) removing debris, including dead flowers and deteriorated plastic ornaments; and

(5) promptly restoring gravesites following an interment.

Graves and Monuments

Throughout AMP there are tilted and toppled gravestones and markers. Looking at the number of tipping and tumbled monuments, at first glance one might think this was an ancient cemetery stretching back centuries. However, AMP was established in 1927 and many of these markers are far more recent.

Under Section 713.011, Texas Health and Safety Code, a municipality's responsibility to maintain a cemetery includes leveling or straightening markers or memorials. However, PARD has repeatedly denied it has any such a duty under state law, instead insisting that the duty and cost of maintaining gravestones and markers falls solely on the owner of the space and his or her heirs.

Under the most recent proposed cemetery rules and regulations, which are simply a rehash of the rules PARD has been trying to shove through without reflecting even an iota of the input from stakeholders and the public for the past nine years, PARD once again seeks to dodge its legal responsibilities under state law. Under proposed Rule 14.4.5 (Cemetery Operations Rights and Responsibilities) Cemetery Operations "reserves the right" to perform certain activities within a cemetery to preserve the public health, safety, comfort, and welfare, including leveling and straightening memorials. PARD has a LEGAL DUTY to do this, not some sort option or reserved right.

Further, under proposed Rule 14.4.6 (Space Holder Rights and Responsibilities), Section (B), the owner of a space is solely responsible for cleaning and repairing memorials and mausoleums. An owner must obtain written approval from Cemetery Operations before undertaking such tasks. This is NOT what state law provides. Further, order Section (D), if memorial or mausoleum is in disrepair, Cemetery Operations must attempt to notify the owner to undertake repair or replacement and if the repair or replacement has not been completed within 180 days of the first attempt to notify the owner, Cemetery Operations may repair or replace the item and charge the expense to the owner. Again, this violates state law, which clearly imposes this duty solely on the municipality. 

Section (C) requires that the owner, heir, or assign, provide Cemetery Operations with current contact information and the contact information of any person designated by the owner to receive communications. The owner must update such information as necessary and Cemetery Operations is entitled to rely on the contact information on file in communicating with the owner. However, PARD has admitted in the past that its current record keeping is so poor and haphazard, it often is unable to locate the space owner or his or her family. So what happens to these existing gravesites under these proposed rules? If PARD cannot find an owner or heir to pawn off its legal duty to, does that mean that PARD is permitted to allow grave markets to tumble like dominos? Even assuming that the rule as proposed is approved and PARD somehow miraculously collects this information and properly maintains the records, over the years people die, families move away, or someone passes without any remaining living relatives. In such event, are these memorials simply allowed to eventually tilt and tumble, lying forgotten and neglected? 

Finally, under proposed Rule 14.4.8 (Rules for Memorial Work) Section (A), the resetting, releveling, repairing, or cleaning of a memorial or other structure within a cemetery must be performed by a contractor approved by Cemetery Operations. Such work may be subject to an inspection fee and other fees as set forth in the fee schedule available from Cemetery Operations. So not only is PARD shirking its duty under state law and trying to pawn off the responsibility and expense of maintaining grave markers to the space holder or heirs, PARD is apparently looking at making extra income by charging fees to those performing what is the PARD's legal obligation. 

In other words, PARD's entire attitude toward maintaining grave markers is more equivalent to a protection racket than compassionately and carefully performing its duties under state law. If the public does not pay up, as far as PARD is concerned, the gravestones can crumble and tumble until Austin cemeteries look more like the setting for a Lovecraft story than the final resting place for loved ones.

Perimeter Fences

Once the southern edge of AMP was lined by a limestone wall along Hancock Drive, matching the original 1928 buildings. According to the City of Austin Historic Cemeteries Master Plan (Master Plan) issued in August of 2015, the chain link fence replaced the wall in 1966. Now visitors to AMP are "greeted" by a rusted, sagging six-foot chain link fence running along Hancock Drive. This dilapidated fence is the first impression visitors and passersby receive regarding this important historical cemetery, giving the impression that the city neither respects its history nor those buried within this battered barrier. Section 713.011 (Maintenance Of Municipal Cemeteries), Texas Health and Safety Code, imposes on a municipality that operates public cemetery the duty to maintain the cemetery in a condition that does not endanger the public health, safety, comfort, or welfare. This expressly includes repairing and maintaining any fences, walls, buildings, roads, or other improvements. Yet again, PARD is ignoring its duties under state law.

Stakeholders have been complaining about the atrocious condition of this fence for years, questioning why PARD is so focused on low stone or brick borders lovingly placed around individual graves when the first vision of the cemetery is through a rust-ridden rickety chain link fence that would look more appropriate encircling a junk yard. The 2015 Master Plan noted that a "primary concern of many Austin Memorial Park Cemetery stakeholders is the exterior appearance of the cemetery’s southern boundary fence. . . " The Master Plan recommended replacing the southern cemetery chain link boundary fence with a black picket fence, a combination stone-and-black-picket fence, or other type of fence more compatible with the historic character of the cemetery. The Master Plan further stated that a  stone wall should match the workmanship exhibited in the stone wall located in the east front yard of the cemetery office and that black pickets could be incorporated to extend the height of the enclosure for security. The replacement of this fence was listed as a "Priority One" project to be completed in one to two years. Over SEVEN years later the same decrepit chainlink fence is still standing (barely in places).

The north side of the cemetery is bordered by another chain link fence, this one only about four feet high. Although it is better condition than the southern perimeter fence, it is sagging and bent in places. The fence provides little or no security to the cemetery. I have been told by other stakeholders that they have seen people easily climb or jump over this inadequate barrier.

In fact, this fence has been damaged in places by trespassers climbing over it. When the damage was pointed out to PARD, an employee attempted to patch the fence with small pieces of green wire. This is apparently all PARD feels is requited of it under Section 713.011 (Maintenance Of Municipal Cemeteries), Texas Health and Safety Code.

 

The Master Plan recommended replacing the rest of the boundary fence with black picket fencing, black powder-coated chain link fencing, or other compatible material. Little scraps of green wire are not what the Master Plan envisioned.

Soil, Plants, and Trees

One argument PARD has made regarding the need to implement new cemetery rules and regulations is that the memorial gardens interfere with mowing. This claim by PARD ignores that fact that many of the gardens have been in place for decades and mowing does not appear to have been an issue until PARD took over "care" of the cemetery in 2013. Prior to that, PARD's contractor, Intercare, appears to have had no issues regarding mowing or memorial gardens. PARD personnel have told stakeholders that they need to be able to drive through the cemetery on large riding lawnmowers. However, in reality there is nothing to mow, especially during the recent droughts and watering limits, and even when there is rain, most of the greenery is weeds, with large existing bald areas. The soil is thin, eroding, cracked, and compacted, and the use of large heavy mowing equipment will only further erode and destroy what little top soil remains. Further, extensive use of heavy maintenance equipment will result in the same problem that drove my sister-in-law to plant a memorial garden on her daughter’s grave in 2006—tire tracks and ruts left over the graves by maintenance equipment. The problem is continuing; this is a picture I took in March of 2022 showing tire tracks from PARD's equipment cutting deep ruts over a grave. 

In fact, the Master Plan commissioned by PARD describes damage done to markers and monuments by riding lawnmowers and recommends that PARD avoid using riding mowers and metal core trimmers within twelve inches of markers and plot enclosures. The Master Plan asserts that weed trimmers using light gauge nylon line without metal cores be used for detailed trimming.

A traditional grass lawn is not economically or ecologically sustainable. For all the years I have visited AMP there has never been a lush rolling grassy lawn and there is never going to be. Among the few scattered patches of sickly grass, most of the green ground cover is in fact native "weeds" and grasses, such as this patch of a hardy drought-tolerant native plant known as straggler daisy or horseherb, with tiny yellow flowers that attract smaller pollinators. In fact, the Master Plan recommends establishing  "in dry and sandy soils, a groundcover comprised of sedges, horseherb, and Texas frogfruit. Most of these are evergreen to semi-evergreen, depending on the severity of the winter. They also require very little mowing." So instead of trying to mow under these native plants that add greenery to AMP and protect the soil from erosion, PARD should be encouraging their growth and spread. 

Much of the "lawn" is composed of dead thatch. A grass lawn, especially during Austin's very hot and dry weather, requires extensive and continuous watering to survive. There is no ground irrigation or soaker system in AMP, the watering instead being done by tall fixed sprinklers that spray an arch of water high in the air and hoses and sprinklers moved around by AMP employees. This is time consuming, expensive, and inefficient, with much of the water being lost to evaporation. Further, frequent breaks in the water main result in long periods when there is no water available throughout the AMP grounds.

Note that the only lush greenery in this row of graves pictured below is a memorial garden planted long ago. Ironically, the 2015 Master Plan recommends that in AMP, PARD should, "Encourage the establishment of groundcovers within curbed or walled family plots, to reduce the amount of mowing and trimming required." This is exactly what I and other stakeholders have been urging since 2013. Encouraging the public to become involved in beautifying the cemeteries with hardy and attractive native and adaptive plants will greatly improve the cemeteries’ appearance and appeal, limit the need for water-hungry grass, and cut back on the need for regular mowing and other maintenance. Instead of worrying about the ease of mowing a nonexistent lawn, PARD should be promoting the planting of trees, shrubs, and plants that are drought- and freeze- resistant, native or adapted, low- or no-maintenance, and that do not spread through a rhizome or root system. The Master Plan also recommends establishing turf within the cemeteries composed of a mix of native grasses. PARD has ample resources it can look to for selecting such hardy, drought-resistant native and adapted grasses, plants, and trees. The City of Austin has published an extensive "Grow Green Native and Adapted Landscape Plants guide" promoting sustainable landscape practices and the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has a wealth of information regarding plants and trees not only suitable to Central Texas, but that also provide food and shelter to important pollinators, as well as birds and other local wildlife (both the city's Grow Green project and the Wildflower Center are referenced by the Master Plan).

Deep holes and sunken pits resulting from subsidence can be seen on a number of gravesites. This is a long-term problem, as the 2015 Master Plan, when discussing issues at AMP, notes, "Subsidence was observed, likely a result of improper, insufficient, or poorly compacted fill over interments."

According to the Master Plan, AMP has the widest variety of trees of any of the Austin historic cemeteries. However, years of neglect have left many of these trees sickly, dying, or dead. The loss of these trees is not only destroying a significant part of AMP's history, it negatively impacts the environment. Further, dead or dying trees near roadways and gravesites present a hazard to the public.

Water and Drainage

Parts of AMP, including swathes of the Jewish section, due to poor drainage and soil, become a swamp after a heavy rainstorm. This has gone on for years and continues to worsen.  Not only does this blatant neglect dishonor those who are buried there, it is an affront and insult to all who must wade through mud, muck, and stagnate water to visit their loved ones. The water may remain for days and is a hazard to visitors, breeds mosquitoes, and erodes and compacts the seriously compromised soil.  

Sink

It is traditional in Judaism for a person to wash his or her hands after attending a funeral or visiting a grave. Some will recite Isaiah 25:8 as they follow this long-standing tradition, "He will destroy death forever and the Lord G-d will wipe away the tears from all faces." Ritual washing and bathing is important to many observant Jews. There are various reasons given for this ancient tradition, one being that the washing of hands represents purification and serves as a reminder to the living that they should continue to serve G‑d. In the Jewish section of AMP there is a sink provided for this ritual, but the condition of the sink is often anything but cleansing.

The sink is rarely cleaned and often coated with bird excrement. This is a long-standing problem, as the 2015 Master Plan notes that the sink, ". . . appears to provide a convenient perch for birds, as it was also covered in bird droppings during the master plan team’s site visits." At best, the faucet often provides only a thin trickle of water. During the frequent water main breaks at AMP, there is no water at all. 

During a recent visit on September 16, 2022, I found the sink was clogged and filled with stagnant standing water, with dead insects and a bird feather floating on top.