Slide Show: What's Wrong With Evergreen Cemetery?

Back East ancient cemeteries are revered. 

Drive through New England and the grave sites of people and soldiers back to the Revolutionary War are tourist attractions, places people come to feel their history.

All along the coast the old cemeteries are kept up, but few are as beautiful as the Evergeen Cemetery in Santa Cruz. Yet, it is largely in disrepair and is now filled with campers and drug addicts. 

The plot is owned by the Museum of Art and History, which offers historical gatherings out there for children and adults. Local developer George Ow has started working on the Chinese section of the cemetery, as you can see in the pictures. The E Clampus Vitus historical group has fixed up the fence and done some work.

But why has our city let this place degrade so much? Why isn't it a tourist destination? And why are junkies shooting up across from a park where kids play soccer and baseball, and where school kids take lunch breaks? 

One could argue that letting homeless people camp in the cemetery is the best possible use of a place where others are resting in peace. In England, cemeteries are sometimes used for camping. But no one has considered the question here.

Also, with all the reverence made for Native American burial grounds in town, how can this native American cemetery be allowed to be so mistreated? 

Here's a disturbing video about the problem made by Take Back Santa Cruz.