Will the public ever be able to visit Hart Island freely? Photo courtesy of Kingston Lounge.

For decades, the barriers that have separated the people of New York and Hart Island have been nearly as insuperable as the boundaries between the living and the dead.

Visiting the city's potter's field—one of the few in the country that is still in active use—has been almost entirely forbidden, with family members of the approximately 850,000 people buried there granted highly-restricted, and some say grudging access, to a small, fenced-off area by the island's ferry dock. The city purchased the 101-acre island off the coast of City Island in the Bronx in 1868 and designated it “a public burial place for the poor and strangers.” Although the island once housed a reformatory, a workhouse, a convalescent hospital and a prisoner of war camp, the Department of Corrections, the island's caretaker, has always cited security concerns in defense of its strict closed-off policies. Prisoners from Rikers perform the burials.

Now the City Council is considering two likely-to-pass bills (introduced by council member Elizabeth Crowley, who chairs the Committee on Fire & Criminal Justice Services) that would make Hart Island a more open and accessible place. Though the island would still be far from inviting. The first bill would mandate that the Department of Correction make a database of burials available on its website, allowing the public to determine whether a friend or relative's remains are on the island. The second would make a small move towards expanding access for those who wish, for personal or possibly even research reasons, to visit the largest publicly-funded cemetery in the world.

The Council is not yet ready, however, to take up Intro 848, a bill that would make the biggest difference of all in expanding access: placing the island under the jurisdiction of the Parks Department. Melinda Hunt, the director of the Hart Island Project, a non-profit that advocates on behalf of families with relatives buried on Hart Island, is strongly urging the city to make the change. Through a series of freedom of information requests and lawsuits, Ms. Hunt's Project has been instrumental in securing public access to the island's burial records (since posts to the project's website) and, slowly, to the island itself. Ms. Hunt's organization argues that the DOC is an intractable and inappropriate manager of a burial ground.

At a Thursday council hearing about the bills, family members of the Hart Island dead described the difficulties of accessing DOC records and visiting the Island. Visits have, in the past, only been granted to those who can produce a death certificate confirming burial at the "City Cemetery" and prove a relationship to the deceased. In 2005 the homeless advocacy group Picture the Homeless and several church groups also secured visitation rights for interfaith memorial services, at which point the DOC constructed the gazebo by the water. However, those with family members buried on Hart Island say that such improvements do not go far enough. They point, in particular, to the prohibition against visiting the actual burial area, or any place beyond the ferry terminus ( a prohibition that Ms. Hunt said has only been in place since the construction of the gazebo in 2005). However, opening up a larger area of the island or introducing graveside visits are not included in either of the two bills before the council and the DOC claims that it cannot accommodate such changes.

"I had no opportunity to bury my child. Now, having finally located her place of burial, I cannot visit her grave because the Department of Correction is free to invent 'closure visits' to Hart Island and define 'spiritual solace,'" said Laurie Grant, an OBGYN whose stillborn daughter was buried on the island without her knowledge in 1994. "Does a gazebo with prison guards constitute appropriate access to Hart Island?"

Ms. Grant is one of the many mothers who said that they did not understand that paperwork they completed in the hospital meant that the children would be buried on an inaccessible island. Indeed, infant burials account for a large percentage of burials on the island (the others being indigent and unclaimed adults). Peggy Regensburg, who runs the city's Sudden Infant Death program at the Medical Examiner's office, said that she first learned of Hart Island after receiving calls from numerous bereaved parents who were trying to locate their children's remains and were not aware they had authorized burials at a potter's field.

"It's unconscionable. People sign papers when they're still fogged up with medication in the hospital and they don't realize that their child is not in the city morgue or the hospital or the funeral parlor," said Ms. Regensburg, adding that most parents she spoke with had the means and the desire to handle the burials themselves. She noted that the fact that Hart Island was administered by the DOC meant that many foreign-born and non-English speaking parents were reluctant to contact prison authorities about visitations or possible disinterrments (disinterrments are occasionally done, in situations where family members request them and it is possible to locate remains in the shared burial trenches).

"The entire journey from beginning to end was like being in a bad novel," said Elaine Joseph, who visited the island in March to mourn the 5-day-old daughter who died in 1978 at Mt. Sinai Hospital. "I got off the boat and was escorted about 75 yards to an old run down gazebo. This was as far as I was able to go. From there all I could see was a dilapidated, run down island that looked like a ghost town.... what an awful place to spend eternity."

Mark Taylor, the attorney who represents the Hart Island Project said that although it was unreasonable to expect the DOC to manage the cemetery well, given that "this is not what they do," the cemetery was "very poorly managed."

"The idea of having one of the largest cemeteries in the country where you can't visit, it's crazy," he said.

For its part, the Department of Corrections points to the massive work of managing the cemetery and claims that it has been making a concerted effort improve public access. The DOC also supports bill 803, which would require it to make its electronic database of those buried on the island since 1977 available on its website, but pointed the tedious and slow process of creating the database (the Hart Island project has requested that the DOC license its database, which would provide immediate access on the DOC website). The department has also agreed to comply with bill 804, which, if passed, would require the DOC to post its visitation policy on its website and make the written policy available to anyone requesting a copy.

Warden Gregory McLaughlin said that as of last year, the department revised its visitation policy to allow non-family members to visit and was even willing to allow researchers to visit "if space was available." (Researchers and journalists have long been completely banned from the island.) As for visiting actual grave sites, Mr. McLaughlin said that "greater access to the island is difficult at this time," because of security concerns, as well as the lack of public transportation to the Island (the DOT operates a limited access ferry) and facilities with running water on the island. He said that building such facilities would cost "millions and millions."

There was a strong feeling that they were but small improvements. In fact, Ms. Hunt's Hart Island Project opposes the passage of 804 because it establishes that the DOC is in charge of visitation, something that Ms. Hunt believes is a step in the wrong direction.

"It's just shameful that you've been treated that way," said council member Vincent Gentile, addressing the two women whose infants had been buried on the island. "The city of NY owes you an apology."

As for the more ambitious bill 848 that would end the DOC's management of the Island altogether, the hearing Committee was less encouraging. Ms. Crowley, who also sponsored 848, cited costs and questions about the Parks Department's suitability for managing the Island.

"It's something we're working on and we're not ready just yet," she said.

kvelsey@observer.com

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that there was no opposition to either of the bills. In fact, the Hart Island Project opposes Intro 804 because it feels it will codify the DOC's oversight of visitation.

Dennis Gallagher didn't. The former city councilman, who resigned his seat last year after admitting he sexually assaulted a woman in his Middle Village campaign office, stood inside the doorway of the mall, smiled, then walked down the hallway back to work.

That's where City Council candidate Peter Koo's campaign office was located, and also where Gallagher has quietly toiled away for months.

Since resigning his seat, Gallagher has gotten an insurance license and a job at Fidelity National Title. He also sells old memorabilia online, and, with much less notice, works as a political consultant.

"I was a very active consultant who helped devise and implement the strategy from day one" said Gallagher in a telephone interview Monday evening.

Gallagher declined to name the consulting firm. Campaign finance records show Koo's campaign made payments to consultants at one firm, J. Mac Associates.

The strategy for Koo, as Gallagher, described it, was to get as granular as possible, solidify the few Republican votes, and peel away Democrats disaffected by the contentious primary, which Yen Chou won with about 30 percent of the vote.

"I advised Peter Koo that the race could never be won if this was simply Democrats versus Republicans," said Gallagher. "We had to show what he thought, how he felt, and how he lived his life."

Koo "ran his campaign as an independent running on the Republican line, with strong Republican values and with some Democratic support. If we had come out with George Bush pieces of literature, we never would have won."

The broader message in the Koo victory, as Gallagher sees it, is that the "Republican Party is a party that can reach out in new immigrant communities. The Republican party has failed to do that. New immigrants that share our core Republican values" and Koo's victory "sends a signal that Republicans can get elected in overwhelmingly Democratic districts."

And the message of beating the odds isn't lost on Gallagher, whose own involvement in this race is one few could have predicted.

"In some instances, Peter encouraged me to be more out front, but I was the one who wanted a more behind-the-scenes role," said Gallagher. "I certainly didn't want to be an issue for him and his campaign."

Gallagher announced in March 2008 that he was resigning his seat the following month, after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts of sexual abuse. A more serious rape charge against Gallagher was dismissed by the state supreme court on the grounds that the prosecutor unfairly prejudiced the grand jury.

Since that time, Gallagher has said he reconnected with his two children and grown a goatee. According to a friend, he's also lost some weight. The former councilman said he's enjoying life outside the public eye, but is looking to do more campaign work.

"One mistake in my life shouldn't overtake over 20 years of government and political service," said Gallagher. Before getting elected in 2001,  Gallagher worked on several campaigns, including Bob Dole's (presidential), George Pataki's (gubernatorial),  Serphin Maltese's (a successful write-in candidacy for State Senate!), and, he says, he ran his own campaigns for Council.

"I felt happy I was able to contribute to this race," he said, "and I can see myself continuing to run or manage a campaign."

Which is welcome news, according to Jimmy Oddo, the current minority leader in the City Council.

"Obviously, Dennis has made mistakes in his life and he has paid a heavy price for them," he said. "While people can question some of his decisions in his personal life in the past, they can never question his political acumen. He has a brilliant political mind."

But as Republicans celebrated a surprise victory in Flushing, they also saw a stunning defeat in Gallagher's old Middle Village district, once thought to be a Republican stronghold. Democrat Liz Crowley, who won narrowly won the seat in an election last year, fended off a challenge from Gallagher's old boss and former Councilman Tom Ognibene. How did that happen? "The Ognibene-Crowley race was won by Elizabeth because of the amount of work she put into the race," said Gallagher. "She clearly outworked Tom."

The city is still paying the rent on the building, according to the real estate broker for the property. The city is still in the process of moving the furniture out of the building, but it's not in use, the broker said.

The anonymous Queens Crap blog -- which already posted these pictures -- expressed outrage that campaign signs were on a building which is, technically, still a public facility.

In a brief telephone interview, Crowley told me said she didn't know anything about the signs, and that she won't be using Como's old district office as her her own. Crowley said her district office will be around the corner, at 54-77 Dry Harbor Road, in Middle Village.

They're still doing work on that office, and it should be opening next week, she said.

 “My parents had 15 children,” said Crowley, whose father and mother both also served in the City Council. “I know sometimes it can be a little dysfunctional, but at the end of the day, we work hard together.”

Crowley ousted Republican Anthony Como after narrowly losing to him in a special election last June. Crowley had also run, unsuccessfully, for the seat in 2001, when she lost to Dennis Gallagher.

Gallagher resigned after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a woman, which create the vacancy that Crowley eventually filled.

"I won by 38 votes," Como told me this evening. "I feel great."

Also running in the four-way special election were Democrats Elizabeth Crowley and Charles Ober and former Republican Councilman Tom Ognibene.

"I'll be at City Hall tomorrow" and "I hope to be sworn in at the end of the week," Como said.

The counting is still going on in the special election for the Queens 30th City Council district, but a spokesman for the candidate who came in last place is claiming victory--because he helped prevent another Democrat, Elizabeth Crowley, from winning.

According to unofficial results, Crowley is a few votes behind Republican candidate Anthony Como.

“We won this race," Sam Esposito, a spokesman for Democratic candidate Charles Ober, wrote in an email to supporters, which was forwarded to me by a Democratic operative. "Maybe not in the way many of you would understand, but we really are winners. We had 2 goals, 1 Charlie would win but more importantly was to not let Crowley take that seat."

It goes on to say, “We put the Queens machine in their place. We hurt Crowley's chances of ever getting elected.”

Also, Ober is looking for someone to challenge Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan, who is from Ober’s Democratic club but did not support him for reelection.

“I am also putting word out that we are looking for people who want to run for the assembly seat against Nolan. And the committee chair against Vanbramer. I will run your petitions with Charles in certain areas and I will run the petitions for you in the other areas also. All I need are 2 people who would like to run for office.”

I left a message for Esposito and was unable to reach Ober via cell phone.

The entire email is here:

UPDATE: Esposito says he didn't write the email. He confirmed that it was sent from his address, but says that a hacker broke into the account and wrote it.

According to the Board of Elections, with 100 percent of precincts reporting, the results are:

Anthony Como: 2,352 votes (31.71 percent of the vote)

Elizabeth Crowley: 2,282 votes (30.77 percent)

Thomas Ognibene: 2,031 votes (27.38 percent)

Charles Ober: 752 votes (10.14 percent)

There are still 196 paper ballots that need to be counted, and to further complicate things, ballots can be sent in as late as June 10, according to Liz.

This result of this election, which was conducted to replace former Councilman Dennis Gallagher, is a decent sign for the Republicans, who will be running a State Senate race in this part of Queens later this year. The incumbent, Republican Serf Maltese, is thought to be in serious danger, since he barely won re-election against a little-known Democratic challenger in 2006.

The special election was a different race in different circumstances, obviously. But if Queens Republicans turned out for Como, who works for Maltese, it suggests if nothing else that they'll be motivated to turn out for Maltese as well.

The result was also a bad sign for the Queens Democratic organization. Elizabeth Crowley is the cousin of Representative Joe Crowley, the Queens County Democratic leader. If she is defeated--and it looks likely, at least, that she will be--it doesn't speak well of the power of the storied Queens machine.

Finally, Charles Ober, who was endorsed by the New York Times, lost soundly, demonstrating, if nothing else, that Middle Village is a long way from the Upper West Side.

Anthony Como got $25,634; Tom Ognibene took $10,278.

The best-funded candidate in this race is Democrat Elizabeth Crowley, the cousin of the county Democratic leader, Representative Joe Crowley. She's the only one of the four candidates in the race who is not eligible to receive matching funds (because of violations during a 2001 race).

According to a financial report filed with the C.F.B on May 23, Crowley has raised $159,400. Como, who is second place in fund-raising, has $48,230 and has received, so far, $100,826 in public funds [clarified].

“Charles Ober has a genuine affinity for, and practical track record on, the issues and processes of grassroots democracy that the Independence Party cares about," said the party’s Queens chairman, Gerald Everett, in a public statement.

In other news on that race, two of Ober’s opponents just got matching funds from the Campaign Finance Board: former Republican Councilman Tom Ognibene got $58,351 and Republican candidate Anthony Como got $75,192.

Democrat Elizabeth Crowley, who has the backing of the Queens County Democratic Organization, 1199 and others institutional support (she is related to Representative Joe Crowley), is not eligible for matching funds because of penalties she is paying off that are connected to a previous City Council race.

According to her latest filing, which was given in January, Crowley raised $70,770 and spent $20,660.

We’ll get more details about the candidates’ financial activities when they file disclosure reports with the C.F.B. tomorrow. Those reports will cover transactions between April 29 and May 19.

UPDATE: Crowley raised $101,993 and spent $66,591 according to a more recent filing. 

Ognibene, a Republican, is the former councilman of that Middle Village district, but was term-limited from office in 2001. His successor, Dennis Gallagher, resigned after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting a woman who was also a constituent. Next month's election is for the remainder of Gallagher's term, then the winner will have to run again later this year.

If Ognibene wins (the leading Democratic candidate is Elizabeth Crowley, cousin of the Queens County Democratic leader Joe Crowley), it will only be a re-election in the most literal way. But now that the first crop of term-limited council members are eligible to run again, I wonder if we'll see this "re-elect" line again.