RICHARD WINGER/VERO BEACH CITY COUNCILMAN
Curiously there is a parallel in 19TH-century Russian literature to the current attempt by some on City Council to sell Crestlawn Cemetery. Representing a modern-day “Divine Comedy,” “Dead Souls,” is an 1842 classical novel by Nikolai Gogol.
The main character and anti-hero, Pavel Ivanovich Chichikov, a public servant turned into a “charming criminal” becomes an over-zealous entrepreneur, who in seeking to make his fortune, crafts a plan to deal in dead serfs. Since estate owners had to pay a tax on each serf, whether dead or alive, until such time as the bureaucracy updates the rolls, it was costly for the estate owners to employ these dead people. So Chichikov began to deal in dead souls. By owning thousands of such souls he could establish false wealth and start a Ponzi scheme. In fact, this ghoulish scheme came out very poorly for both Chichikov, the public officials of the provincial city, and the estate owners. In the end, justice was done to all those Czarist Russians who dishonored the dead.
The point might well be taken here in Vero Beach where we have a lovely municipal cemetery, second to none on the Treasure Coast, and where our honored ancestors are buried. This enterprise is financially self-sufficient, and currently breaking even, with every opportunity to be profitable. It is true there is still an old negative cash balance on the books for the new columbarium, but that balance is being satisfactorily reduced as space is sold.
Going forward, what is needed is not to sell Crestlawn Cemetery, but to actively manage this valuable and cherished asset. As it is, the City Cemetery is priced below most cemeteries on the Treasure Coast, while often providing superior landscaping and environs. It makes little if any practical sense to continue offering more for less.
The City Manager has been directed to find a way to correct this marketing and pricing problem. The results of his efforts will be to increase the profitability of Crestlawn, at which point with even more favorable financial results we will be left to wonder why some ever considered abandoning an obligation to the families of the dead and to the very memories of those departed.
And if public opinion means anything, 85% of the approximately 200 people responding to an “Inside Vero” poll want to retain the cemetery.
I go back to Gogol, for it strikes me as ghoulish to consider selling the resting place of our predecessors, a cemetery that the City took on in good faith. It is also foolish and unnecessary. Because the cemetery is currently breaking even, selling it will in no way improve the city’s general fund budget. Whatever cash is gained from a sale will soon be spent. Gone forever will be our municipally owned cemetery. Forsaken will be the trust of those who buried their loved ones believing the Cemetery would indeed have perpetual care.
What is wrong with maintaining the Cemetery properly, while beginning to also actively manage the finances by charging competitive rates? What political end can possibly be worth trafficking in the dead? Gogol tells us such shortsightedness will come out badly.
Indian River Guardian 
Hear hear !
Well said, councilman. Keep up your intelligent insight into Vero’s issues. Thank you for your service to our community.
Perhaps a requirement to run for City Council should be at least a five year residency in order to assure the citizens of getting elected officials who have a “sense on community”.
Councilman Winger shows a sense of community from the Dais and this article is just one more example.
It is a sad day when our elected officials do not get it when he says he wants to keep Vero Vero.
If just even one member of each founding family whose ancestors rest at Crestlawn make their feelings heard…perhaps that might end this ridiculous idea of selling off Crestlawn. When you die, you trust that what you bought when you were alive will stay the same. You trust that your children and grandchildren will not have to worry about your affairs anymore. You trust that the city that you helped grow and become what it is today will honor your memory by keeping its promise as well. It is my understanding that the question about whether or not to put this up for bid comes to the council on September 3rd. To head this off, it must come to the council before that on how each of us feels. Please email your comments to City Clerk Tammy Vock at TVock@covb.org and put to the attention of the City Council. Thank you.
At 70, Vero Beach born, I remember those forefathers and how they worked to make Vero the ‘Gem’ of the East Coast it is today, so unique. Bea Gardner said it all: Perhaps a requirement to run for City Council should be at least a five year residency in order to assure the citizens of getting elected officials who have a “sense on community”. Perhaps then, they would respect and treasure those who made Vero what it is today, and what so many want to preserve and protect. Can anyone name the Council members and where they came from or how long they have been in Vero?
All of the council members have lived here over 5 years as far as I know. Especially Craig Fletcher…he has been here long enough to have dug in deep roots and he is the Mayor who is supposed to lead by example. It is not the people who have lived here the longest, it is the one that has the most love for this town and ALL of its citizens, even the ones outside of the city limits.
Thanks for the info. I remember Craig and family when I was young. And your answer is spot on! I just hope there are enough of us to save it. We should all be grateful for all those early people who created Vero did for those of us who followed. All one has to do is look up and down the coast at other towns to see what a true Gem Vero Beach is. And their memory should be treasured. Thanks.
Then write to the council and tell them not to consider putting the cemetery out for bid…it is so easy…just email to tvock@covb.org and put to the council’s attention.
ctascon is a little right and a little wrong. ctascon says they have all lived here over five years. That might be true but they have also been in office for about three years so…..how long did they live here when they took office? A very short time I would think. They are definitely not old timers and a lot of their actions lend to that fact.
One more thing to consider is that the city manager has only been here a very short time, and he takes his marching orders from those that have only been here a short time. All of this must be considered when discussing the longevity of the Vero Beach elected officials. As far as the current appointed Mayor Craig Fletcher is concerned, shame on him for even thinking of letting the cemetery go to a private investor. He really should know better. I wonder how many relatives he has there.
We have the Yankees move in and they have some good but please leave Vero and their dead our memories alone. Go to another city to destroy their flings. Joyce A. Allen