Newark City Cemetery Neglect: Families Demand Cleanup of Forgotten Burial Ground

Neglected City Cemetery

• 📌 Newark's City Cemetery, a burial site for 18,000 poor, unknown, or unclaimed individuals, is described as looking like an abandoned lot.
• 💔 Families report the cemetery has been forgotten multiple times, with conditions described as shameful, overgrown with weeds, and lacking access.

Legal Battles and Historical Neglect

• ⚖️ A family member, Anna Laskarine, searched for her grandfather's grave and found the grounds heartbreakingly covered in junk and debris.
• 🏛️ Lawsuits alleged the sacred land was illegally converted, leased, and developed by the city, with evidence suggesting it was used as a junkyard.
• 🏗️ Historical accounts include an engineer testifying in 1966 about discovering skulls during a sewer project, indicating burials on the site.

Past Restoration Efforts

• ✨ A previous lawsuit in 1998 forced Newark officials to restore the cemetery, transforming it into a respectable appearance.
• 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 For a short period, the Spatola family maintained the cemetery for the city, attempting to memorialize the dead and recommending landscaping.

Current State and Future Plans

• 🚧 The cemetery has been closed since a major flood in 2010, which the mayor's office believes disturbed some remains.
• 🏢 The city confirmed it still owns the 5-acre plot, with the Department of Public Works responsible for upkeep, though DPW personnel await explicit permission to enter the site.
• ⚠️ The city is evaluating the site for health and safety and has reached out to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection for assistance, but a timeline for cleanup is currently unknown.
• 😔 Families are seeking dignity for the dead, with some, like Laskarine, still unable to locate their relatives' graves, who died decades ago.