NEW YORK (AP) - A New York City Council member is reviving legislation that would turn an island where a million people are buried into a park.
Hart Island is off the coast of the Bronx and has served as a burial ground for New York’s poor and nameless for more than a century. It is maintained by the city’s department of correction and prisoners bury the dead. Families could not visit the gravesites of loved ones until a 2015 lawsuit.
Council member Ydanis (ee-DAHN’-nihs) Rodriguez said he is reviving legislation Wednesday that would put Hart Island under the parks department, which would maintain the island as a public park where people can access the gravesites.
He also wants to establish a regular ferry service to the island.
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