DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Residents are raising concerns about the condition of a cemetery in Delray Beach, saying weeds, sinking plaques, and toppled grave markers are signs the city-owned burial ground is not being properly maintained.
The concerns came to light during a recent Let's Hear It meet-up, where Janice Young approached me upset about what she had been seeing at the cemetery.
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"What's your biggest concern at this point?" I asked.
"The upkeep," Young said.
Young said she visits the cemetery regularly to spend time at her father's grave. Her father and step-grandfather are buried there, and the family owns 2 additional plots.
She described a long list of problems, mostly on the older side of the cemetery.
"There's weeds growing over the plaques in the ground," Young said.
"The upright markers had been knocked off their mooring and been left," Young said.
"A lot of the plaques that are on the ground had been weeded so much that they're sinking into the ground," Young said.
I visited the cemetery to see the conditions firsthand and found a sign reading "please pardon our appearance as we build for the future." I also saw people landscaping on the grounds. Walking around, I could see many of the plaques were overgrown, and the nameplates were sinking into the ground.
"It's sad to see it in that kind of mess that it's in," Young said.
When I asked Young what her father would say about the cemetery's current condition, she did not hold back.
"He would not be happy," Young said.
I reached out to the city last month for answers and was told the city manager would be presenting on the maintenance of the cemetery at a commission meeting this month. At the latest meeting on Tuesday, another resident raised similar concerns, but no city official addressed the cemetery.
"If that's historical land, I would like to know what happened to the upkeeping," the resident said.
A review of the city agenda for next week shows leaders do plan to have a presentation on operations and maintenance for the cemetery. I will continue to follow up and press the city manager for answers.
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