‘They’ve really let it go’
Family members decry conditions at cemeteries on North Street
GREENWICH — Frustrated Greenwich residents say they have had to take it upon themselves to maintain the grave sites of their beloved family members at the St. Mary’s and Putnam cemeteries on North Street.
Uncut grass, broken monuments and statues, faulty ceilings and plant overgrowth in the mausoleums are among the problems families describe, some of which date to Superstorm Sandy in 2012, they said.
Some have resorted to bringing their own lawn mowers to cut the grass around their family plots. And they say their complaints have gone unanswered by the Diocese of Bridgeport.
“The people here (in the
graves) obviously can’t speak for themselves,” Harry Catanzaro said Wednesday as he mowed his family plot in St. Mary’s Cemetery. “The families paid for the perpetual care and they’re not getting it.
They can’t call and complain — and that’s why we’re complaining.”
The need to beautify the cemetery is deeply personal to Catanzaro as not only his parents are buried there but so is his son, who was killed in a car accident while a student at the University of Alabama.
Felix Guiffra, who also has a family plot in the cemetery, said often poor conditions are not the result of willful neglect by the grounds crew. There simply are not enough workers to handle the 74 acres of property between the two cemeteries, particularly during the heavy seasons for grass growth, he said.
“It’s hard to keep up with this,” Guiffra said. “It takes a while to do it and two guys can’t do it all. They try to please everyone and make it look almost presentable, but that’s not addressing the problems. They need help.
“Believe me, I know how tough it is to cut grass,” he said. “But they’ve really let it go this year really badly.”
Catanzaro added, “We know these guys are working hard.
They’re not sitting around not doing anything. They’ve done a great job and they want to do a great job. They know there’s a level you have to maintain here. They have pride in their work. But there’s not enough of them.”
Catanzaro said there once had been as many as five or six members of the grounds crew on staff to give attention to regular maintenance. But that has changed over the last two years, he said, starting with the departure of the crew chief, a 30-year employee who became too sick to continue working. A subsequent staff reduction brought the number of workers down to two, he said, which is insufficient to keep the grounds in order. “On days when you have a funeral, those guys have to dig the holes and they can’t cut the grass that day because of the noise,” Catanzaro said. “That backs everything up and you lose almost a day of work. And since you only have two guys it’s hard to catch up with everything.”
Some cemetery plot owners have hired landscaping crews to come in and do ongoing maintenance. Bill Robbins, owner of Bill Robbins Landscaping, said his company regularly does beautification work on about 20 plots at the cemeteries, including mowing lawns and fixing flower beds, with more requests coming in for temporary help until the cemetery gets more staff.
“The place is a mess,” Robbins said. “People are asking for me to come in and do some work on their plots too while I’m there for my regular clients. The grass is not being cut.”
Another issue of contention is the condition of roadways through Putnam Cemetery, marked by potholes and large puddles from frequent rain, which exacerbates muddy conditions, said both Catanzaro and Guiffra.
“If you had a small car in a funeral procession you wouldn’t be able to get through,” Catanzaro said. “How can you do a funeral here when you’re stepping in all of these holes?”
While maintenance work, including grass cutting and bush trimming, was stepped up in both cemeteries shortly before Memorial Day, Catanzaro and Guiffra said it has to be more consistent. Before the work was done last week, they said, conditions were far worse with overgrown grass and shrubbery throughout both St. Mary’s and Putnam.
Management of the cemeteries is overseen by the Diocese of Bridgeport. Joseph McCurdy, location manager for the cemeteries, said he has heard complaints from people who have plots there. He attributed the grass growth to the “extraordinarily wet spring,” which has made it impossible to mow consistently.
But McCurdy confirmed there are only two staff members currently on the grounds crew. He said the diocese is taking steps to address concerns.
“We have an ad on the diocese website for two seasonal employees and two permanent employees for this location,” he said. “We’re actively looking.”
Brian Wallace, the diocese’s director of communications, confirmed a six-person crew was brought in from outside to “catch up” on mowing and other maintenance areas before Memorial Day. He agreed there had been a loss of staff but only because of three departures, including the supervisor, and said two hires were being finalized for the seasonal work in Greenwich.
“We should have a full crew to do what needs to be done,” Wallace said.
Catanzaro and Guiffra said they have reached out to the diocese and left numerous messages but have not received any response. Wallace said he would look into why their calls weren’t returned and urged anyone with a problem to call the diocese.
“This is something that is very important to the diocese,” Wallace said. “This is a sacred place. This should be a beautiful place. It is a place of prayer and meditation. … We’re doing everything we can to improve the cemeteries and plan for the future.”