PART 2

  Access is restricted and illegalized for thought out reasons. The Federal Government works with the DOC to protect New Yorkers, even if that means restricting Hart Island from the general public.

      The island is facing devastation due to its shoreline and public access, even with the DPR to monitor, could pollute and destroy the island further. Any amount of educational opportunities is no matter if the environment is at stake, especially in this time where climate change is exceeding the resources, time, and effort people are putting against it. The island is already “pleading with state and federal governments for guidance and help, including billions to pay for flood walls” (Gillis) and cannot ask for more money to fund cleaning, visitor centers, and ferries for tourists. Tourists are not a necessity; the receding shoreline is. 

       At most, the island should bring along ecologists and environmentalists, as a means for climate change effects and job opportunities. If the federal government can oversee an ecologist task force, it would become “the most robust possible jobs program you can think of, and one that can’t be outsourced” (qtd. in Gillis). Job opportunities to influence the economy in New York and ecologists could reconstruct the high “baseline water level” which increases with every new storm surge (Lee). The island should narrow its focus to its environment, not tourists.

      Furthermore, with public access to the cemetery, the dead will most likely be desecrated and burial grounds littered with trash. A burial ground with public access is for sure prone to destruction and vandalism by criminals. Moreover, by inviting visitors, city island could face major congestion. The people of City Island “worry that an influx of visitors would cause traffic congestion on their streets leading to the only boat launch to Hart Island” (Alvarez). Traffic congestion, desecration, cleaning, maintenance, safety, and a list of other issues is what the DPR or the DOC faces if Hart Island goes public. It is unnecessary, disrespectful, and a complete inconvenience. “‘The island should run in a way reverent to the deceased’” (qtd. in Alvarez) and this includes using thirteen million dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Erosion) given to Hart Island to renovate “historic buildings [that] [have] deteriorate[d]” (Alvarez), start “repairs on the island,” and “begin monthly inspections [which] will fast-track reconstruction of the shoreline” (Erosion). Public access is a waste and will hurt the island, but private access for relatives of the deceased must be granted. 

       Loved ones deserve to see their deceased relatives or friends, even if the deceased was once forgotten. It is a basic human right, as proven in a class-action lawsuit by the NYCLU. To deny such a right would be hindering the freedom to “to honor the dead as [the] [family] see[s] fit” (NYCLU). Given that, the island should still be strict in its visitor policy. Those who wish to go on the island must prove themselves relatives or friends by documentation and be escorted to and from the ferry. They should not be limited in time during the day, but the days allowed for visiting must follow weather patterns for the visitor’s safety and well-being.