By Scott Sieber
The site is to be turned into a mixture of passive open space, a playground and a memorial park for the more than 1,000 dead buried in mass graves beneath the earth.It sits directly across the street from the Flushing Cemetery, a burial site of predominantly white graves.But while work was recently completed to relocate the playground and construct an iron fence around the whole of the site, Mandingo Tshaka, a Bayside resident and torch bearer for the restoration, said there are still problems to be addressed.”People are bringing their dogs onto this hallowed ground to urinate and defecate,” Tshaka said. “You would no more do that at Ground Zero or the Holocaust exhibit. So the site is still not getting the respect. I insisted that signs be put around the site letting them know if they do bring dogs in there, they would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”The issue was discussed during a recent meeting with City Councilman John Liu (D-Flushing) and representatives from the city Parks Department, Tshaka said.At that meeting, Parks representatives said they would place signs around the site of the memorial section of the park once completed.It is an issue that does not settle well with Tshaka.”That's missing the point,” Tshaka said. “That whole site is a burial ground. The commissioner is looking at this as a traditional park. This is different. It's hallowed ground and you just don't do that.”Tensions have flared over the destiny of Martin's Field for years, when Tshaka read a book, first published in 1932, called “Private and Family Cemeteries in the Borough of Queens.” The book revealed that the Buns family had buried several family members on the grounds in the 1800s.As he researched further, Tshaka said he discovered a large number of parks and buildings citywide that were constructed in similar ways.According to Tshaka there are two African-American graveyards in Central Park, one in the back of City Hall and even one in the basement of Macedonia Church in Flushing.”In the five boroughs, you would never know where the African or native American burial groundsare,” he said.Tshaka said he hopes to see the site renamed after someone like James Bun, the last person buried in Martin's Field in 1898.A spokeswoman for the Parks Department said that because the park is divided into a playground, memorial and open space, animal control is difficult to enforce.”It was our intention to not allow dogs in the memorial and to allow them in the open fields, but we do plan on discussing this with the local community board and the local community,” she said. “Based on their feedback we'll re-evaluate our decision.” Reach reporter Scott Sieber by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
