ALSO KNOWN AS x NIKEiD DUNK SET
This auction is to benefit Free Arts NYC, a New York City based non-profit organization dedicated to bringing the healing powers of the arts into the lives of abused, neglected and at-risk children and their families. More information can be found at http://www.freeartsnyc.org Please note that the url’s referenced in the auction discription are for Free Arts, which is the Los Angeles affiliate of the Free Arts organization. For additional information about this auction or to learn more, please go to http://www.akanyc.com or http://www.freeartsnyc.org. Additionally, you can contact ALSO KNOWN AS at info@akanyc.com or Free Arts NYC at info@freeartsnyc.org
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Acid in the news
A new form of vandalism has become the latest scourge of the subway system, and now one council member is looking to propose legislation that could help crack down on it. NY1’s Michael Scotto filed this exclusive report.
In the past, spray-paint was used to deface subway stations and trains. But now vandals armed with a toxic substance known as etching acid are damaging subway car windows across the city.
According to transit officials, this latest form of graffiti has been prevalent for the last few years. And they say it has shown up on two thirds of the more than 6,000 subway cars in service.
Unlike spray paint, etching acid is permanent, and can not be washed off, which is why City Councilman Peter Vallone wants to enact a sweeping ban that would prevent anyone without a special permit from buying it.
“What we’re going to do now is make our law, which is the toughest in the nation, even tougher by requiring some sort of permit or license,” says Vallone.
Currently, you must be older than 21 to purchase it. Vallone is looking at how someone would go about obtaining a license. The idea is to ensure that etching acid is still available to artists who use it legally.
“We would not want to stop them from getting etching acid, so we would have to make a provision where they are also able to get some sort of license to posses this. But your average kid on the street should not be walking around with etching acid,” says Vallone.
The NYPD is already trying to crack down on the problem. Officers assigned to the subway system have been told to be on the lookout for people carrying bottles of shoe polish, which are being used to store and disguise etching acid.
The Mayor’s office wouldn’t comment on the legislation since it hasn’t seen it yet, but Andrew Albert of the New York City Transit Riders Council welcomes it.
“There is not one line that you don’t see the etching on the glass, not only on the glass on the sides of the cars, but on the glass between cars,” says Albert.
Vallone has become the target of graffiti artists who have sued him over a ban on spray paint. But the lawyer involved in the most recent case says he doesn’t see a problem with this bill. Other civil liberties experts have questions.
“What we would have to have is a guarantee that the permit process is not cumbersome and not expensive,” says civil liberties attorney Norman Siegel.
Vallone says he’s still working on the specifics, and hopes to have the legislation introduced within the next two weeks.
