Sometime between July 28, 2023, and August 9, 2023, PARD desecrated the resting places of my parents and niece, utterly destroying the long-established gardens by weed-whacking everything into the ground. Not only had there been no notice, we had previously been promised by PARD that we would be allowed to maintain the gardens and that PARD would not touch them as long as everything was within the plot.
Jason Walker is apparently the acting director of Cemetery Operations for now. As is so typical of this opaque, but allegedly public, agency, there is no information regarding its leadership or staff on either the Cemeteries or PARD websites. I met with him after this complete breach of trust and he apologized profusely, stating it had been an error on the part of the maintenance crew and promising that PARD would pay for new plants. I gave Walker a link to this blog so that he could learn what I, my family, and other stakeholders have suffered at the hands of PARD over the past decade.
On September 6, 2023, I emailed Walker that I had not heard back from him and do not know whether he had read my blog. I noted that he had told me that he had previously worked at the Texas State Cemetery and therefore should understand the importance of maintaining a historic cemetery, including preserving established grave ornamentation, as well as detailed record keeping. However, I stated, as documented on this blog, PARD is currently is currently stripping gravesites of ornamentation throughout Austin’s historical cemeteries with no written policies or procedures, no documentation, and no consideration of the ornaments’ emotional, historical, and monetary value (Tomb Raiders, Napolepard on the March, Tomb Raiders Ramage On). I also noted that PARD has admitted that wants to rip out gravesite gardens and ornaments simply so that it can run heavy equipment over graves, regardless of the damage it causes to graves and headstones.
In that email, I also included pictures of the gardens on my family gravesites before PARD destroyed them. I also expressed concern regarding is what happens to those gardens when I and my brother and sister-in-law pass away (and are in fact buried at AMP). I explained that is one reason why I am so adamant that the Austin Perpetual Care Trust Fund finally be implemented (it has been some 30 years since the fund was enacted by the City of Austin).
I finally asked what, if any, plans, PARD has for resetting the many tilting and tumbled headstones throughout AMP and other public cemeteries. I noted that over the years I have visited AMP, I have seen the problem continuously worsen and that dishonors those who are buried there and is a disgrace for the City of Austin.
Walker responded by thanking me for the email. He said that he had been able to look over and read most of the blog postings and would continue to look over and study them. Walker stated that he looked forward to continuing discussions with me.
All the plantings on my parents' and niece's graves are hardy, native or adaptive plants, and it was possible that some would survive. On September 26, 2023, I emailed Walker explaining that I have been waiting to get back to him to see whether any of the garden on my parents’ gravesite has survived. To date, I stated, it appeared that at least two of the day lilies were re-sprouting, and at least one Engelmann daisy and one four-nerve daisy may had also survived. I noted that although I had been watering the gravesite regularly, with the recent rains and slightly cooler weather, it was possible that more plants may appear. I told Walker would like to give the garden another week or two to recover, then I and my brother would like to meet with him to discuss not only the restoration and maintenance of our family’s gravesites, but also PARD’s future plans for AMP.
Well, my family's care and patience paid off. These pictures, taken on November 17, 2023, show that the memorial gardens on both gravesites were rebounding. On my niece's grave, the zexmania and lilies were full, lush, and green.
In my parents' memorial garden, the beautiful fern-like foliage of the Engelmann daisies was filling in.
Some of the day lilies were also springing back to life.
Some of the four-nerve daisies had not only regrown, but were in fact getting ready to burst into bright yellow blossoms.
Even the purple skullcap was reviving, although it appeared that PARD had succeeded in destroying its pink counterpart.
PARD had placed little plastic yellow flags around my family's memorial gardens to alert the maintenance crew that the gardens were being maintained by the family and to leave the gardens alone. I added by own yellow flags as a precaution, miniature versions of the Gadsden flag.
On December 8, 2023, I visited AMP with some gardening equipment, having decided that the surviving plants were tall and established enough that I could weed and prepare the soil for mulching. However, upon arriving at my parents' graves, I discovered that once again PARD's promises are worthless. Every full, green plant on my parents' graves had been shredded by a weed-eater. Only their memorial garden had been vandalized. The garden on my niece's grave and plantings on nearby graves were untouched. Yet, despite the visible yellow flags, my parents' memorial garden had once again been desecrated. The Engelmann daises and day lilies were leveled.
The four-nerve daisies were similarly shredded and the purple skullcap was gone.
To add insult to injury, the still fresh green remains from the ruined plants were scattered both on my parents' headstones and all over the ground. So PARD's alleged "maintenance" not only destroyed a lush and growing garden, it left the shredded foliage behind, not even bothering to clean up its crime scene. This is supposed to somehow show respect to those buried at AMP and improve the appearance of cemetery?
I don't think of myself as a paranoid person, but certainly I might be forgiven if I begin to wonder whether the fact that my parents' memorial garden, despite repeated promises by PARD and two layers of yellow flags, was not only once again utterly desecrated, but that no other gravesites in the area were subjected to the same destruction and the remains of the ruined gardens were left scattered all over my parents' graves like some sort of insulting taunt or warning.
No comments:
Post a Comment