Mysterious oil truck at Memorial Field

Hey Crappy! So last week I was walking my dog to Memorial Field in North Flushing. I previously reported on the newly reconstructed ballfields at 149th Street and 26th Avenue, which included a new bioswale on the eastern 20' of the park, to capture rainwater and mitigate flooding. However, as with most bioswales, it quickly became a garbage magnet - which was cleaned up several days after I contacted Queens Crap.

Well, I thought I'd give it another whirl, because the bioswales are truly excellent at attracting trash as can be seen in these pics. And, since maintenance by the Parks Department is next to zero, I thought I'd reach out to you again.

Outside of the athletic fields is even more interesting. A few weeks ago, I noticed a fuel truck at the northwest corner of Bayside Avenue and 149th Street parked illegally and reeking of what smelled like burning oil. It also had yellow "CAUTION" tape wrapped around it. I figured it was a disabled truck that was going to be moved in a few days.

Well, lo and behold: two days later, the truck was gone. However, as I was walking up to the field...there was the truck! Now on the east side of 149th Street at 28th Avenue, the truck was there reeking of combustible fuel - with the yellow tape around it AGAIN!

This is a disaster waiting to happen, Crappy. Why hasn't the DEP or the 109th Precinct gotten this polluter off the streets?

- North Flushing Resident

Is this any way to treat an historic cemetery?

From the Times Ledger:

It’s the middle of August and the grass has turned brown in many of Flushing’s outdoor spaces from Kissena Park to Flushing Cemetery.

But the grass and foliage at the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground, known until December 2009 as Martins Field, is in particular disrepair.

On Monday evening, piles of rotting, pungent vegetation greeted visitors just inside the ground’s gates, grass and shrubs were sunburned and dead, caution tape encircled most trees. Trash was strewn across a plaque honoring the 500 to 1,000 blacks and American Indians buried there in the 19th century after dying of small pox and cholera.

That state of disrepair does not sit well with Mandingo Tshaka, the Bayside community activist who was instrumental in getting the site renamed to reflect the honor of the people who were buried under what is now a city park. He is looking to encourage the city to take better care of the site.

“The Parks Department totally eradicated the history of my people and disregarded them and you’ll see it right out here in Flushing,” he said. “It’s time that this city stand up and do the right thing: Respect this cemetery.”

Martins Field now "Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground"

From the Times Ledger:

Bayside community activist Mandingo Tshaka said he was pleased after the city renamed Flushing’s Martins Field to honor the remains of African Americans and native Americans who had been buried there more than 100 years ago, but he has also called for the site to be locked up at night to prevent vandalism.

The city Parks Department changed Martins Field’s name to the Olde Towne of Flushing Burial Ground in mid-December. The site, between 164th and 165th streets along 46th Avenue in Flushing, had originally been a cemetery for 19th-century blacks and American Indians who had died of small pox and cholera.

Several new signs at the burial ground have been put up to notify community residents of the site’s historical significance.

The city had paved over the burial ground more than 70 years ago to build a playground and pool at the site, which had violated city law. In 2006, the city performed $2.7 million in renovations at the burial ground, such as adding a steel picket fence, new sidewalks and a playground with a commemorative plaque.

The burial site, which dates back to the 1840s, was originally known as the Colored Cemetery of Flushing. More than 1,000 people were buried at the site between 1840 and 1898.