The city Sexton announced recently that the Frances Street Gate to the cemetery would be closed so now the only way in is through the main Margaret Street entrance. Anyone coming to the Frances Street side will see this:
In locking these gates the Sexton said it was in response to rowdy behavior and disrespectful people bothering mourners in the cemetery. The idea is that the cemetery will no longer be a through street across the middle of the town. 
A few years ago the city commission voted to ban motorcycles and scooters from the cemetery on the same grounds. Indeed I took the banner picture of this blog the day before the vote, as I thought a picture of my Vespa was worth having. The Frances Street side of the cemetery is well fenced these days: 
There has been the expected outcry from cyclists who liked to cut across the cemetery but the Sexton isn't budging. One letter writer to the paper suggested it was up to the city commission to make the decision but no one has chosen to grasp that nettle.
It's a picturesque trail through the graves. The Key West cemetery is a well known landmark with above ground graves that always grab tourist's imagination. The water table is high in Key West and below ground burials aren't very practical. 
You can imagine what it would be like in there if people were walking their dogs through the graveyard, so it's hard to argue with this sign. 
I have always had a soft spot for this place and I enjoy bringing a picnic lunch here and eating among the graves. Personally I don't view it as being disrespectful, rather it's a way of incorporating death with life. 
There are lots of well known last names dotted through this place. 
I expect that, given enough time people will get used to the closure and the practice of crossing the cemetery from Frances to Margaret will be a memory for us old timers to taunt the newcomers. 
Perhaps after a time of punishment the powers may relent and perhaps the lock will go away and with no fanfare at all those of us who care to may get to spend some time crossing the graveyard once again. One lives in hope.
In locking these gates the Sexton said it was in response to rowdy behavior and disrespectful people bothering mourners in the cemetery. The idea is that the cemetery will no longer be a through street across the middle of the town. 
A few years ago the city commission voted to ban motorcycles and scooters from the cemetery on the same grounds. Indeed I took the banner picture of this blog the day before the vote, as I thought a picture of my Vespa was worth having. The Frances Street side of the cemetery is well fenced these days: 
There has been the expected outcry from cyclists who liked to cut across the cemetery but the Sexton isn't budging. One letter writer to the paper suggested it was up to the city commission to make the decision but no one has chosen to grasp that nettle.
It's a picturesque trail through the graves. The Key West cemetery is a well known landmark with above ground graves that always grab tourist's imagination. The water table is high in Key West and below ground burials aren't very practical. 
You can imagine what it would be like in there if people were walking their dogs through the graveyard, so it's hard to argue with this sign. 
I have always had a soft spot for this place and I enjoy bringing a picnic lunch here and eating among the graves. Personally I don't view it as being disrespectful, rather it's a way of incorporating death with life. 
There are lots of well known last names dotted through this place. 
I expect that, given enough time people will get used to the closure and the practice of crossing the cemetery from Frances to Margaret will be a memory for us old timers to taunt the newcomers. 
9 comments:
Dear Conchscooter:
Wow. A weekly picnic at the cemetery... There is no end to your good times. It is in my will that I want to be buried there... With a Dade County pine dancefloor over my resting place, to add real spice to your life.
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Roads
Now that sounds like a real photo-op! Mr. Conchscooter doing a tap-dance on the Dade County pine dance-floor ceiling over Mr. Riepe's resting place. I do believe I'd make the trip for that show! LOL!! Do let me know when the floor show is scheduled -:)
I look forward to it very, very much. I doubt I will be alone.
I look forward to it very, very much. I doubt I will be alone.
Last night the Commission considered Weekley's resolution to reopen the gate. All but a few of the speakers spoke eloquently in favor of the resolution. (You'd never know it from today's paper and radio, where they made it sound like an even mix.)
The few dissenters only spoke about how they wanted peace for their family plots, something the locked gate does NOT change (there are still many people visiting through the single open gate). One guy, who hasn't even been in the cemetery for many years, was happy it had been closed because he thought the locked gate had cleaned it up. (There has been NO further "clean-up" since the gate was locked.)
Lopez brought up "sex in a tree" and human poop and other such stuff that the locked gate won't prevent. Surprisingly he was in favor of limiting public access, in contrast to his past antics involving the public's use of privately owned streets.
Other than Weekley and Johnston, the rest of the Commissioners were more worried about pissing off long-time Conchs (most of whom never go near the cemetery) than the fact that a public park (yes, the streets in there ARE public property and the Cemetery as designed to be a public memorial park, not a private grave yard) had been made less accessible.
After being shot down, Weekley directed the City Manager to explore other paths to "securing" the Cemetery that will not impede public access from Francis Street (such as cameras). I'm sure that'll happen really quickly (yeah, right).....
It's no longer a thoroughfare, so it will be less used. I'll miss the access, but I see the point of those who want it closed. I won't be wandering through anymore, so that's one less person and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
That'd be true if they put a fence around any public space and left only a single path in/out. Let's put up fences around Mallory Square, Hggs Beach, Southernmost Point, etc, etc, if this is such a great way to solve our problems.
Anyone taking the main gate can do just as much damage in the "far side of the cemetery" as those who entered via Frances Street. The gate only stops those of us with hectic lives who cherished our chance to visit while passing through. We just don't have time to go all the way around to the other side to get in the gate, then trek all the way down to the end where we came from, and back to the main gate again to leave. That can add over a half-mile to a simple visit.
The cemetery IS a public memorial park supported by our taxes. However you want to slice it, our own City has put up new obstacles for us to visit our own property.
Note that among the speakers last night were also several with families interred there -- begging that the gate be UNLOCKED. Five of the Commissioners chose to ignore that, too.
David is right on all points not
least the shenanigans. It's not frequent but neighbors do report people fence jumping after hours . So closed gates aren't the be all and end all.
Perhaps I'm old fashioned. When I was in high school my track coach would never let us run on the trail through the town cemetery because it was a cemetery and not a park. It's just a different perspective.
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