Brooklyn, NY – In response to ongoing complaints about the state of affairs at Brooklyn’s Washington Cemetery, Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) and his staff conducted a month-long survey of the cemetery this past summer. Throughout his career, Hikind has regularly been involved in issues pertaining to Washington Cemetery.
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Established in 1860, Washington Cemetery is Brooklyn’s largest Jewish cemetery, and is located at 5820 Bay Parkway. The cemetery encompasses 110 acres and is said to contain over 100,000 graves. The study revealed that although 400 headstones were found to be toppled or otherwise vandalized, the bulk of the headstones were largely undamaged.
“There was a great concern that the cemetery had fallen into a terrible state of disrepair, especially after last December’s blizzard,” Hikind said. “At the start of our investigation, we expected to find tremendous devastation. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that although there was evidence of vandalism and destruction, the percentage was not as significant as we had expected it might be. While even one toppled headstone is too many, the situation could have been a lot worse.” Hikind also noted that because some decedents were interred at the cemetery as early as 1860, many do not have any living relatives to ensure the upkeep of their graves and monuments.
Richard Fishman, Director of the New York State Division of Cemeteries, has notified Hikind that the City will pay $100,000 to repair the outer fence of the cemetery which was damaged by Sanitation workers who piled mounds of snow against it during last year’s blizzard. The sheer weight of the snow had caused the fence to collapse and topple adjacent headstones.
An additional $50,000 will be allocated by the State’s Monument Maintenance Fund to restore the damaged or defaced headstones located throughout the cemetery. The necessary work to refurbish the broken headstones is currently underway.
Good job! I live in that area and saw firsthand the damage the sanitation department did. I’m happy that they’re coming clean about it.
Nothing, absolutely no legislation or activism in the past on the behalf of Dov Hikind has turned me into a die-hard fan of his. But twice in the last month did that happen: the successful, undaunted campaign against Weprin of course, which started with Weprin’s proclamation in the assembly during the vote on gay marriage, and the allocation of funds for kevod hameisim in Washington cemetery. Congrats Dov and continue the good work!
The sanitation employees who failed to use common sense should be sued for negligence.
Why is the state paying the $50k for repairing the matzaivot that were not damaged by the snow trucks? Is it the State reponsibility to pay the costs of maintaining private kevorim? If so, there are numerous other cemetaries badly in need of repairs.
What about stones that were damaged years ago and were subsequently removed, leaving unmarked graves?
My great uncle was buried in Washington Cemetery in 1904. Older relatives remember his grave having a stone. I first tried to locate the plot 5-10 years ago and could not find it. After consulting with the cemetery office and using a grave map we determined that a certain “open” area in that section is actually FULL of graves whose stones have gone missing over the years — and that one of those graves in my great uncle’s.
So it’s nice that Hikind’s team did not find as much vandalism as they had expected but one reason is because the EVIDENCE of the vandalism has been removed.
That is one heck of an expensive fence at $100,000
I know Richard Fishman, Director of the New York State Division of Cemeteries well. He is a real Mentch and he gets things done. Y.F. , President, Congregation Chevra Anshai Marmarosh