Graffiti: Can you see it?

Ride an elevated train and you see it on the rooftops of buildings. Ride the subway and you see it on the walls of the tunnels. Walk through any part of Queens and you will see it on businesses, homes, cars, schools and even churches. Some of us like to get away from it all by taking a nice walk in the park, but it’s there too.

It’s a quality-of-life crime that Mayor Giuliani had identified and targeted with Executive Order #24 on July 11th, 1995. However, it’s one that got away from him and continues to get away from us all. Is it more rampant or am I getting more frustrated by it? Why have we let it get to this point? Why aren’t we more outraged? Most importantly why don’t we hold anyone responsible? Perhaps we’ve just gotten used to it. Or maybe we even feel defeated by it.

In January of 2003 Mayor Bloomberg signed into law a bill sponsored by Queens Council members Eric Gioia and Peter Vallone Jr. The law increased the penalty for repeat offenders from a class B misdemeanor to a class A misdemeanor resulting in doubling the fine to $1,000 and imprisonment of not more than 1 year. Yet, if you go to the cities web site for the Anti Graffiti Task Force and look under the section for Recent Accomplishments you find a single line stating “Last Updated January 1, 2002”.

It sounds as though the penalties would fit the crime and that it would be a deterant. But that is only if the laws are enforced. It doesn’t matter how many times we double the fine or lengthen the maximum prison term if we don’t enforce the laws that are on the books.

As citizens we should be demanding our elected officials take a stand and hold the guilty parties responsible. If we truly want to put an end to it, we need to get serious about it!

Perhaps this will make parents take responsibility for their children’s actions before they vandalize public and private property. With the amount of graffiti throughout Queens are we so naïve that we think there are just a few guilty parties?

Queens is a great place to live and work, let’s fight to make it a beautiful one too!

As always, until next time, stay safe!

later,
dan

"My karma tells me, You've been screwed again! If you let them do it to ya, you've got yourself to blame! It's you who feels the pain! It's you who takes the shame!"