ALLENTOWN, Pa. – If you walk along the 24-acre property of Fairview Cemetery on the south side of Allentown, a bird’s-eye view doesn’t look too bad, but when you get into the thick of it, you may start to notice other issues.
One resident describes the property as tall grass, weeds around the tombstones, and groundhogs running across the roads.
Local Tyler Fatzinger’s great-grandfather’s tombstone sits at the edge of the cemetery. Fatzinger is the founder of Revive Fairview Cemetery Allentown, a Facebook group that gained popularity among many, including Michael Molovinsky.
“It was very fashionable at the turn of the century; some very influential people, including Harry Trexler, were buried here, John Mack,” Molovinsky said.
Molovinsky’s a longtime resident and local blogger who says he noticed there was a problem long before fans flooded the Facebook page.
“This particular cemetery has been somewhat controversial for the last 25 years,” he said.
25 years ago was around the time David Boyko took over as the president of Fairview Cemetery Association of Allentown. Boyko describes his team as a ragtag crew of individuals.
“With myself, we brought it back; we cut the saplings down, picked up the concrete, picked up the rocks,” Boyko said.
However, some residents don’t think that’s enough, explaining they think the site needs more help.
“There’s some people that donated equipment, and other people that have done things to help out,” Boyko said.
“And then there were the other people just trying to cause problems,” he added.
That’s where some of this controversy comes in.
“I’ve been given a cease and desist order, so I cannot cut, weed whack, alter stones in any way,” explains Fatzinger.
Boyko says the cease and desist was brought on by Fatzinger was responsible for several violations of the cemetery, including tombstones that had been moved. Now the founder of that Facebook page is starting to fight back.
“There’s an individual that has weaponized the city’s SWEEP rules to see that the cemetery gets fined for tall grass, weeds, and that’s not what we want,” explains Boyko.
As Tyler Fatzinger’s Facebook page has blown up, he’s used it as a platform to share some of the disagreements between the two of them.
“We’re working with very limited resources. Now, when you go to the District Justices, they understand, but they have to follow the letter of the law. Something has to be done to loosen the strings or find an exception,” says Boyko.
As the battle between burials continues, there’s one thing both sides seem to agree on
“There’s enough interest in this cemetery that I believe it can be saved,” explains Fatzinger.
As we wait for a white flag to wave, Boyko hopes other volunteers step up to help the legacy cemetery and restore history on the south side.