Disclaimer: everything contained in this blog is MY OPINION. Every attempt is made to present the truth through actual facts or to identify statements which are in doubt; otherwise there will be no deliberate presentation of gossip, rumor, or innuendo which can't be proven as factual.
Calvin Davis is an excellent gardener and landscape expert, with lots of experience.
Cemeteries should be beautiful to show respect for those who are buried there. They should be calm and orderly to comfort those who mourn and to assure them that the people who have gone before aren't forgotten.
Electra's cemetery has reverted to a weedy wilderness, as usual. The neglect is awful and has been for years. It's a city cemetery, and those at city hall who are responsible for its condition ought to be ashamed of themselves.
But they're not, of course. They seem to be quite happy to harass private owners about their property's appearance, and to punish them with codes violations and threats of fines if they don't comply.
However, they simply ignore their own messy eyesore right at the crossroads of two main highways.
How hypocritical can you get? (Very)
What must travelers think? (Probably "don't stop here")
If the city were fined for all the years codes have been violated at the cemetery there would be enough money to completely professionally landscape the place.
But wait! Now it seems there's a new project in which the city has offloaded its responsibility for the cemetery onto yet another city committee (anyone know how many of those there are now?).
The committee solicited specific 'donations'-one of my pet bugaboos-of $90 to buy a brick for a wall in one corner. I'm told the wall is supposed to improve the cemetery's appearance and this will make people want to donate.
While I applaud their desire to get the cemetery in decent shape, I don't pretend to understand how a short wall will accomplish that when the need for grounds cleanup is so obviously urgent.
I would like to know: is this wall money going into the city's General Fund where it can be used for anything, not necessarily the cemetery?
Is the the city is going to hire a full time groundskeeper so that weeds and trash won't quickly pile up and obscure the wall?
Is there any assurance that this won't become a begging money pit like the Grand Theatre?
Set up a totally separate bank account from which the city can't 'borrow.' Push through an agenda item to allocate a specific yearly amount for cemetery upkeep. Add another agenda item creating a permanent committee to administer all cemetery funds independent of the city. Hire a groundskeeper and check on him often enough to make sure he's doing the job. Encourage endowment in addition to 'donations.'
Get. A. Grant. Or several. They're available for cemeteries from different sources which aren't often tapped.
10. Who spends thousands and thousands on cosmetic paint up, fix up while the infrastructure continues to sag?
Anita Huguelet McMurtrie
