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ChunkofWhat t1_ixwu6lc wrote

Reply to comment by Alucard-VS-Artorias in What Does Queens Need More, a New Park or a New Train Line? by mikeymiggz

I feel like most of the green spaces in Queens are cemeteries. I know people get squeemish about disturbing the dead but there just isn't enough room in NYC for corpses to be taking up precious real estate. Sure, Greenwood and a few others are pretty, but most NYC cemeteries are densely occupied, ugly, treeless, and generally not used as parks by the public. At some point we are going to have to get over the idea that a dead body deserves a plot of land for all time and transition to some kind of temporary, 1-2 generation-duration memorials so we can make more room for the living.

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TetraCubane t1_ixx061u wrote

Replace headstones with trees that have a name player.

For a new burial, plant the roots of the tree near the body. The body feeds the tree.

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ChunkofWhat t1_ixxaoee wrote

That's a nice idea, but it gets a bit tricky with the reality of landscaping. A lot of these cemeteries are way too densely packed to allow one tree per person. You'd need to group people up. If we're going to group people up, we might as well make one big marble mausoleum that contains the New Yorker Ash Heap where we can all mingle like rush hour 6 train commuters for all time. Designing a park around bodily remains will always be cumbersome and will also creep a certain number of potential visitors out. People get called out all the time for taking overly frivolous social media posts at cemeteries - there is a stigma for many activities in a burial ground. Remove the bodies and make them real parks. The Big Ol' Ash Heap can go somewhere cool like Randal's Island or the interior of the Statue of Liberty.

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cowtownsteen23 t1_ixyiyoo wrote

Heck, they didn’t even remove the bodies for Washington Square Park. I think the estimate is there are about 20k bodies under there from when it was a potter’s field/hanging grounds

Given enough time, no one cares and people get a nice park.

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TetraCubane t1_ixxbpse wrote

Oh I don’t want to make them into parks. I just want the cemeteries to look more like forests.

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stewartm0205 t1_ixx7ego wrote

It would be best to burn the bodies or store the bodies in small containers after two generations.

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ctindel t1_ixxbkue wrote

Hells yeah bring back viking funerals to the east and hudson rivers!

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Bertie_Woo t1_ixz7xjz wrote

That would actually be awesome!

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ctindel t1_ixzl628 wrote

It would and getting rid of cemeteries to reclaim the land for people who are still alive would be even more amazing tbh.

Just build a memorial wall with the names on all the headstones that relatives can visit if they want.

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stewartm0205 t1_iy2agzb wrote

With a little shelf each so they can leave a small vase with flowers.

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ChunkofWhat t1_ixx9qvw wrote

I honestly love the idea of having my ashes thrown in a big pile with millions of other New Yorkers.

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