Update: The two billboards were removed by their owner in August of 2020. The City of Berkeley apparently never took over ownership of the property.

I stopped by Washington Park Cemetery to check on how it was doing since the City of Berkeley took over custody of the historic African American burial ground. It had been going through at least thirty years of poor management and neglect, and I was happy to see it was well maintained. I spoke on KWMU about some of the history of the cemetery back earlier this year; you can listen here.

I saw pink flags scattered throughout the rows of graves. I suspect the City and volunteers are working to identify unmarked graves. I also noticed several people, whom I believe are volunteers, working on the day I visited, but I didn’t want to bother them due to the current pandemic. Since the City of Berkeley took the initiative to take over the cemetery, I’ll keep an eye on them and make sure they keep up maintenance.