# Building senior housing in the cemetery



## debodun (Sep 22, 2022)

A few years ago, the local nabobs were considering taking a large area that was unused in the cemetery and building a senior housing facility on it. I asked one of the town board members if the developers were sending a subliminal message.


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## JaniceM (Sep 22, 2022)

That's tacky, just plain tacky.


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## Tish (Sep 22, 2022)

That is so strange


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## hollydolly (Sep 22, 2022)

Step too far..IMO.. Here in the Uk they will build on any small patch of land they can.. including in people's back gardens.. and in the car parks of pubs and restaurants... They'll build houses cheek by jowl to a cemetery .. but thus far I've not heard of them building _in_ a cemetery


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## debodun (Sep 22, 2022)

If the developers buy it, it technically won't be cemetery property.


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## Pepper (Sep 22, 2022)

debodun said:


> If the developers buy it, it technically won't be cemetery property.


I assume the cemetery is not expecting more residents?


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## Alligatorob (Sep 22, 2022)

I think it sounds quite convenient.  You could make your basement dual purpose!


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## JaniceM (Sep 22, 2022)

Pepper said:


> I assume the cemetery is not expecting more residents?


Maybe, but maybe they'll be cremated.. after all, they _'urned' _their space...


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## hawkdon (Sep 22, 2022)

In the cemetery right across the street there is a single home
built....I suspect it was for caretaker way back long ago...but
it is still lived in.....


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## jujube (Sep 22, 2022)

I'm a taphophile, I love cemeteries.  That'd be right up my alley, living in a cemetery.


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## Beezer (Sep 22, 2022)

I was in the car with my brother and we drove by a Funeral Home where a charity BBQ was being held outside. My brother said, "Do you want the Mama burger or the Papa burger?"

It was a very funny line, but seriously?? A BBQ on those grounds? I just seemed so wrong on sooo many levels.


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## Flarbalard (Sep 22, 2022)

Is this any worse than being in the hospital in ICU room and the view out the window is a cemetery?


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## palides2021 (Sep 22, 2022)

How about a funeral home across the street from the hospital? heh?


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## jimintoronto (Sep 23, 2022)

Here in Toronto a number of old churches have torn down most of their building, and built a senior's home in it's place, leaving a small part of the original building as a place to pray. In one case  at St Hilda's , the new building is a ten floor senior's apartment building, designed as single small suites, with a main floor dinning room, activity areas, a medical clinic, and a small indoor shallow swimming pool. The individual units have a 500 sq foot area, with living room, bedroom , and bathroom. The cost is about $900 a month, all including meals and medical care. The old church building is now only the original entrance way and the big wooden doors. The church members hold Sunday services in the activity room, in the new building. Some other churches with declining memberships have sold their buildings to be made over as condominium apartment  buildings, and split the money received between their long time members. In some cases the sale might bring in 5 or 7 million dollars based on the value of the land , in the biggest  city in the country. JimB.


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## officerripley (Sep 23, 2022)

jimintoronto said:


> Here in Toronto a number of old churches have torn down most of their building, and built a senior's home in it's place, leaving a small part of the original building as a place to pray. In one case  at St Hilda's , the new building is a ten floor senior's apartment building, designed as single small suites, with a main floor dinning room, activity areas, a medical clinic, and a small indoor shallow swimming pool. The individual units have a 500 sq foot area, with living room, bedroom , and bathroom. The cost is about $900 a month, all including meals and medical care. The old church building is now only the original entrance way and the big wooden doors. The church members hold Sunday services in the activity room, in the new building. Some other churches with declining memberships have sold their buildings to be made over as condominium apartment  buildings, and split the money received between their long time members. In some cases the sale might bring in 5 or 7 million dollars based on the value of the land , in the biggest  city in the country. JimB.


Wow, Jim, a place similar to that where I live would be about $3,000/month but _without _health care.


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## jimintoronto (Sep 24, 2022)

officerripley said:


> Wow, Jim, a place similar to that where I live would be about $3,000/month but _without _health care.


Remember that here in Canada, everyone who is either a Canadian citizen or a Permanent Resident is covered by the Provincial health care system. Of course that includes seniors . So the nurses and the Doctors who provide the care at St Hilda's tower are paid by OHIP. The operational costs at such a senior's residence are  partly paid by the Province, and also by the rent paid by the residents who live there. The cost of building the tower was shared by the Provincial Government and the Anglican church of Canada.   JImB.


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## Geezerette (Sep 24, 2022)

In Pgh I worked at a hospital that was right next door to a cemetery. See it right out the windows.  Many old graves and monuments, but still open and active.  It it was also a very friendly place, very well maintained, and the part still “open “ was very far back from the main entrances and older part. Lots of people me included used used to take lunch time walks there, a few even ate their sandwiches on their family plot. 
In a way I always thought it would be kind of comforting to have people around. Behaving respectfully of course.


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## Remy (Sep 25, 2022)

I often drive by a cemetery in my town. Back when this town was started, it would have been considered out of the way. But you know how that goes, towns spread. I can see houses that are much older than the ones around them. At one time they must have had much more land. But the land got sold and houses built on it. Back on point, I don't really think of the cemetery.

When I lived in Olympia Washington, St. Peter's hospital was several stories high and some of the rooms viewed a cemetery. I remember thinking that wasn't great. 

High separating retaining wall perhaps? No other land?


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## Pepper (Dec 9, 2022)

Your avatar is an ad for Invisalign San Antonio Cosmetic  Dentistry.  What's up with that @SamuelJeremy?


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## Nemo2 (Dec 9, 2022)

In Staglieno Cemetery, Genoa, there are some mausoleums that are as big or bigger than houses....great for long term stays:


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## Aunt Mavis (Dec 9, 2022)

Sort of like the old church I drive by. It’s a popular wedding venue with a cemetery just yards from the outdoor tents and etc. Short trip for the groom. Lol.


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## win231 (Dec 9, 2022)

It's a great idea.
Ya know how seniors don't like noise?
And it would certainly save fuel costs - transporting, etc.


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## Geezer Garage (Dec 9, 2022)

Will probably be going high rise.



Pepper said:


> I assume the cemetery is not expecting more residents?


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## Indiana Joe (Dec 9, 2022)

debodun said:


> A few years ago, the local nabobs were considering taking a large area that was unused in the cemetery and building a senior housing facility on it. I asked one of the town board members if the developers were sending a subliminal message.


The cemetery business is as crooked as any other business.

A few decades back, I used to walk with my half dozen mutts through what is called a Forest Preserve. This Preserver was in a suburb right outside of Chicago.

One day, our long walk along a river bank brought us to a cemetery which was up on a hill about a ten or fifteen higher than the river bank. What I saw in the muddy clay of the river bank were dozens of tombstones thrown about helter skelter. The dates on some were from the late 1800s through some dated only about a decade before.

I knew immediately that the cemetary owners had dumped them to resell the grave sites to new customers.  I knew better than go to any local politician or "enforcement" group. Those people had already proven to me what they were and weren't.  What they weren't was trustworthy.

Instead, I phoned the news department of a local television station. They seemed very interested in the story.  However, after some days went by and I never heard from them or saw the story on their station during their prime time news, I called them back. What I got in return was hokum bukum excuses.

A further fact, I had remembered a few of the names on the tombstones. After finding a few of the surnames in the local phone book, I called the numbers and found that indeed two of the people called were indeed relatives of the deceased. 

Now, to shorten the story, I found later that these two families had gotten together and had spoken with some "Community Leader" or other.

Well, I was invited to a meeting among not just the two couples I had disclosed the problem to, but quite a few other families who had also visited the site I had found.  None of them could find the graves of their dead relatives, but they did find their tombstones exactly were I had said they were. Long story short, no legal action was to be taken because they cemetary had made a $$$ deal with the families.

Quite a number of days later, I again visited that river bank and the tombstones were gone, and when I scouted around the cemetary itself, I could not find any grave of any of those deceased. 

That told me that those "loving" relatives were simply out for the $$$ and little else.  Plus, I never heard the incident reported on the news of the television station to whom I had given the story. I was left with the solid suspicion that the cemetary was politically connected and bought off more than just the families of the deceased.

Lessons learned throughout life are numerous, and most of them we can learn to accept and move on, but this complete rejection of the worth of those deceased by their families is of such perfidy it lives with me to this day.


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## debodun (Dec 9, 2022)

I pay for perpetual care for my parents' lot, but when I visit, it's often overgrown. I think the grass is only cut just before Memorial day when they think the most people will be visiting and they don't trim in between headstones. The last time I was there, it looked like a large tree toppled over in a nearby lot. It had broken many headstones. Nothing has been done to remove it or restore the monuments.


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## Nathan (Dec 9, 2022)

debodun said:


> the local nabobs


Had to Google "nabobs", is that a common term used in the NE?  Just curious, I enjoy hearing regional accents and learning colloquial phrases from other areas.


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## Pepper (Dec 9, 2022)

Nathan said:


> Had to Google "nabobs", is that a common term used in the NE?  Just curious, I enjoy hearing regional accents and learning colloquial phrases from other areas.


You never heard Spiro Agnew call the anti-war folks "nattering nabobs of negativism?"


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## debodun (Dec 9, 2022)

Not very common, just a term that popped into my head.


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## Nemo2 (Dec 9, 2022)

Nathan said:


> Had to Google "nabobs", is that a common term used in the NE?  Just curious, I enjoy hearing regional accents and learning colloquial phrases from other areas.


Nabobs:  Not restricted to one area, but has become 'popular' in English since the 18th century I believe.......from India perhaps...so could go waay back.


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## jimintoronto (Dec 9, 2022)

Nemo2 said:


> Nabobs:  Not restricted to one area, but has become popular since the 18th century I believe.


Nabobs were middle rank Indian rulers in the time period of the British rule in India. They had some power, but they had to maintain good relations with the British rulers, or they could be turfed out of their comfortable life. JimB.


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## Nathan (Dec 9, 2022)

Pepper said:


> You never heard Spiro Agnew call the anti-war folks "nattering nabobs of negativism?"


Doesn't ring a bell, it's been _a-while_.


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## palides2021 (Dec 9, 2022)

Indiana Joe said:


> The cemetery business is as crooked as any other business.
> 
> A few decades back, I used to walk with my half dozen mutts through what is called a Forest Preserve. This Preserver was in a suburb right outside of Chicago.
> 
> ...


What a story! Have you ever thought of writing it as a short story and submitting it to a journal? This needs attention.


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## Indiana Joe (Dec 9, 2022)

palides2021 said:


> What a story! Have you ever thought of writing it as a short story and submitting it to a journal? This needs attention.


That was maybe about 30 years ago.  Nobody cared then, And they will care less these days.

What really impressed me was the hideous duplicity of the news anchor to whom I had first spoken regarding the situation.  She was a very trusted, seemingly honest journalist.  That's what previously had came across to me while watching her newscasts.

All the great actors are not necessarily in Hollywood.


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## JaniceM (Dec 9, 2022)

Nathan said:


> Had to Google "nabobs", is that a common term used in the NE?  Just curious, I enjoy hearing regional accents and learning colloquial phrases from other areas.


I'm from the Northeast, but never heard that one before.


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## Pepper (Dec 12, 2022)

@Poison Ivy, better choice @SamuelJeremy.  Are you related to Betty?


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## Remy (Dec 12, 2022)

debodun said:


> I pay for perpetual care for my parents' lot, but when I visit, it's often overgrown. I think the grass is only cut just before Memorial day when they think the most people will be visiting and they don't trim in between headstones. The last time I was there, it looked like a large tree toppled over in a nearby lot. It had broken many headstones. Nothing has been done to remove it or restore the monuments.


Sorry to read that. Perhaps consider stopping this payment. Clearly it's not being done.


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