Residents want cops to target taggers

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Jean McMahon has lived in Riverdale for over five decades and she has seen a lot of changes. One of them is an increase in graffiti.

“Just a lot of random graffiti on sides of buildings, like behind you here, over here, over there, on the gates,” she said, as she stood on Fieldston Road and Moshulu Avenue. “Down towards Broadway, there’s a lot. I don’t know if it’s gang signs or what, but by 225th Street, I take the number one train, and I do see it all the time when I’m sitting.”

Although Riverdale has generally been doing a decent job removing graffiti, the tagging is a “disgrace and disturbing,” she said.

According to police at the 50th precinct, complaints about graffiti spiked to 106 so far this year from 74 during the same period in 2015. The precinct covers Riverdale, Fieldston, Kingsbridge, Marble Hill and Spuyten Duyvil.

In Council District 11, which covers Riverdale, Van Cortlandt Village, Bedford Park, Kingsbridge, Norwood, Wakefield and Woodlawn, the number of complaints about graffiti rose to 270 in the most recent fiscal year that ended on June 30, compared to 210 a year before, according to a September report by the New York City Independent Budget Office, or IBO.

Annemarie Coyle, who grew up and has lived in Riverdale for more than forty years, said she was “horrified” by the tagging.

“There is so much graffiti on Broadway,” she said. “I live [on] 244th and Broadway, so walking up towards 259th street, there is a parking spot for Horace Mann for their kayaking boats. And they have signs for towing. There’s graffiti all over them.”

“I’ve called DoT [Department of Transportation]. I’ve called 311. I’ve gone to the precinct,” Ms. Coyle said.

She said she has also seen anti-Trump tagging with the words “Scum Trump, Hate Trump, Never Trump,” and another similar phrase that used a stronger expletive.

“I’ve seen it a lot [of anti-Trump graffiti] on 231st Street… I’ve seen it up by St. Margaret’s School,” Ms. Coyle said.

When she called the 50th precinct, it turned out nobody had reported the graffiti before her, Ms. Coyle said.

“I don’t know if they are used to the graffiti or they agree with the graffiti or I don’t know what their reasoning is that they would want this in their own neighborhood…especially with the language being used,” she said.

Ms. McMahon said she finds the increase in graffiti

“disturbing,” saying the tagging could be a sign of budding gang activity.

“If it is true and a lot of it is a gang-related issue in the neighborhood, that should probably be taken care of before it gets out of control,” she stated.

But according to police, the “majority of graffiti that there is in the area is just people putting their nicknames, no sign of gangs,” a spokesperson for the 50th precinct said.

Graffiti has appeared throughout Marble Hill, Kingsbridge Heights and lower Riverdale, and some of the graffiti-makers have been arrested, the officer said.

Graffiti removal is usually handled by auxiliary officers at the 50th precinct—which also welcomes help from local residents who would like to donate paint, the spokesperson said.

In addition to the police, another group in the city removes graffiti from residential, commercial and industrial properties at no charge. The group, Graffiti-Free NYC, is a joint project of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the Sanitation Department and the Mayor’s community affairs office.

To prevent graffiti from appearing in the first place, Ms. McMahon said she would like to see “a regular beat cop, like we use to have in the old days.”

“I don’t know if it’s kids or adults, or whoever is doing it, but if they see a presence, they won’t bother,” Ms. McMahon said. “It’s kind of scary that you are walking around and there’s are a lot of angry people.”

Ms. Coyle lamented what she said was an increasingly hostile mood.

“I had the best childhood. I grew up on 259th and Fieldston Road. It was wonderful,” she said. “It was none of this nonsense. None of this hate.”

Graffiti, Graffiti-Free NYC, 50th Precinct, Lisa Herndon