Written on the rails
With subway graffiti increasing, city proposes closed circuit TV and other methods to stem it
Newsday Staff Writer
May 23, 2006
Once the bane of New York's subway, graffiti is making a resurgence underground, transit officials said yesterday.
To deal with the problem, New York City Transit is looking to install closed-circuit television cameras in subway cars, said Michael Lombardi, the agency's senior vice president for subways.
The number of major subway graffiti hits, which require more than eight hours to clean, doubled last year to 101 from 52 in 2004, Lombardi said at the monthly NYC Transit committee meeting. Clean-up costs for the major hits jumped to $187,811 in 2005 from $87,798 the previous year.
Through May 15, the subway system has seen 72 major graffiti incidents in which $140,678 was spent scrubbing away vandals' handiwork, according to transit officials. Most incidents occurred in Queens (word!) and Manhattan, with the F and L lines taking the most hits.
So far this year, police have made 122 graffiti-related arrests, compared to 110 for all of 2005. In this year's arrests, 44 of the suspects were younger than 16, and 58 were between 16 and 25.
"We don't see a lot of people doing significant time in jail," said assistant chief James Long, NYPD transit bureau commander, adding that defendants are usually ordered to pay restitution and perform community service.
Transit observers said the subject of graffiti had not dominated a committee meeting since before the subway system was declared graffiti-free on May 12, 1989.
The popularity of graffiti has grown in transit systems throughout the world, and New York's subway is increasingly attracting vandals from as far away as Germany, officials said.
"We need to get our arms around this," said Barry Feinstein, the transit committee chairman. "And what I'm listening to here isn't going to put our arms around this. It's just going to get bigger and worse."
Lombardi said the agency spent $7.5 million a year removing paint and ink graffiti from the stations, and $3.5 million yearly cleaning it from trains.
The vandalism occurs in three ways: Paint and ink is used to mark up the inside of subway cars; scratches and etchings are made on glass windows with sharp objects and glass-etching acids; and the train car exteriors are spray painted in storage yards. The costs for removing acid-related vandalism were not available.
Transit officials said the agency was looking at installing closed circuit television cameras on trains. It has consulted transit systems that already have train cameras, including those in London, Paris, Madrid and Germany.
"There are a lot of technical solutions out there that sound pretty good, but whether they really work is another thing," Lombardi said.
He added that 1,843 of the transit system's 6,200 subway cars now have Mylar shields on their windows that prevent acid and scratches from reaching the glass. He said the agency planned to spend $25 million on a program to replace the glass on more than 5,000 subway cars.
Long said this year's arrests came after long hours of police surveillance at train yards. "It's really the only way you're going to catch these guys," he said. "With that type of surveillance this year, we've made about eight arrests."
NYC Transit officials said there were 424 property protection agents watching its train yards and other locations. Feinstein asked transit officials to report back on where those agents are stationed and whether more need to be hired.
Newsday Staff Writer
May 23, 2006
Fine Print: Mass Appeal
Join Mass Appeal on Thursday May 25th at 6PM at P.S.1. for Fine Print: Mass Appeal, a look at the history of graffiti since 1969.
Begun as a zine dedicated to graffiti art in 1996, Mass Appeal is a Brooklyn-based independent publication covering the urban experience of visual culture, music, and film. For Fine Print, Mass Appeal will present a history of graffiti dating back to 1969. Greg “Sp” Lamarche will present his photo-documentation of New York City subways and discuss the stylistic, social, and cultural meanings of graffiti signatures. Chino BYI, former editor of The Source’s “Graf Flix” section, will present photography and back-stories of major graffiti artists worldwide. Sacha Jenkins, editorial director of Mass Appeal, will outline the history of graffiti media, going back to seminal zines to today’s proliferation of print publications, web-sites, and video magazines.
Admission is free, but seating is limited. Tickets may be picked up in the Main Lobby of P.S.1 the day of this event.
Location: P.S.1. Contemporary Arts Center 22-25 Jackson Avenue at 46th Avenue Long Island City, New York 11101
