Graffiti on 6th Street

Subject: They are just teenagers....

Just my opinion, but I would have gone out there and fingererd them. They are assuming that all us Park Slopers are tree-hugging passive folk who are too scared to come out of our own home and call the cops on them.

If you yell and scream, and make sure they know they are not wanted on your block, cause the cops will come every time, they will find somewhere else to hang out.

Incidentally, we found graffiti on our house this past month too, on 5th Street. We didnt see anyone do it, but we are across from the high School.

Subject: Confront!!!!

I agree with NYkittyNY and shishkab. VoodooDonut, you should have gone outside and talked to the police. An anonymous source is not enough for police to search the youths if the police did not see them in the act of tagging.

In this section of Brooklyn, there has been a long tradition of interceding in occurrences outside your apartment or home. Don't be afraid, as the interceding usually scares the living shit out of criminals (an non-criminal youth). For all the fear of possible retaliation, which is almost non-existent, the retroactive fear of being confronted by police and the community is much more severe.

I remember once in the 1980's there was a mugging on the street, and the whole street came out and chased the muggers down. VoodooDonut's neighbors, you have a responsibility too. Enforcing the law is a police/community process.

If we don't confront, the punks will rule the streets.

Charlesbklyn.

1. Don't blame you for not going out there. You're right, they would get revenge somehow (e.g. broken window, tag on your place, etc.).

2. What the fuck!!!??? When I was a teenager, the cops would search us for the fun of it.

3. They really need to do something about the graffiti in the hood. It is becoming very prolific.

Great news! I just found the solution for the John Jay/MS 51 problems we were discussing in another thread and the (probably related) graffiti problem!

http://gothamist.com/2008/03/03/endless_highpit.php

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

VoodooDonut wrote: [quote=simian_sam]I'm just really glad you told us what color the kids were. That shit is important.

I'm just reporting the facts. Sorry if that does/doesn't fit your stereotypes.

Facts? ha. You're the one with the ignorant stereotypes. One, not all teenagers are obnoxious shits. Two, videotaping yourself "makes me think they are some rich little white snots who probably live in mommie’s brownstone and like to go out “slumming” and this gem "Look we’re white and live down the street so we’re cool right?”.

Brooke Lynn Knight wrote: The really weird thing is how many property owners just let the graffiti sit and sit, and never remove it. I'm not talking about absentee landlords -- I mean private houses and businesses. I've removed graffiti myself, and it's not hard. Get graffiti remover at the hardware store, and you're good to go. Or just paint over the stuff.

Tags just invite more tags, until the entire street becomes a bulletin board for scumbags. OTOH, if it's removed immediately, the taggers will move on -- what's the point of tagging if no one sees your tag?

By no means am I justufying any propery owner who lets grafitti just sit there. A little defacing of property leads to more and sometimes I think small property owners just don't understand that.... But..... This stuff doesn't usually come off easily. I worked in property management for a long time (think BIG buildings with lots of blank walls) and the expense to have the grafitti removed porofessionally and completely was huge.and ongoing.

Evilbert wrote: [quote=metalnyc]1. Don't blame you for not going out there. You're right, they would get revenge somehow (e.g. broken window, tag on your place, etc.).

What a victim mentality you have. Hiding inside your apartment isn't how you stop this kind of thing happening. Only stepping up and letting them know you won't tolerate this kind of crap will stop crimenal behavior.

metalnyc wrote: 2. What the fuck!!!??? When I was a teenager, the cops would search us for the fun of it.

Cops are not allowed to search you for the fun of it. Maybe they had a reasonable suspicion you'd be involved in crimenal activity....

metalnyc wrote: 3. They really need to do something about the graffiti in the hood. It is becoming very prolific.

Who's "they" and what exactly do you propose "they" do about it? It's your hood too. You do something about it, like helping the police to prosecute offenders, not hiding in your apartment. What's it like being afraid of teenagers?

mod edited to remove name-calling.

1. Oh, letting them know you won't tolerate this will get it done. Apparently, you were never a teenager, let alone a teenager in NYC growing up around gangs. A little schooling for you, my friend. Tagging is 95% of the time gang related. If you mess with someone in a gang and they know where you live or the vacinity of where you live, they may try to retaliate. Like i said, that could mean breaking your window, tagging on your residence, flat tire, etc. I've seen it happen.

2. Once again, you must not have grown up in NYC. Growing up in NYC you tend to hang out in parks and on coreners a lot. Yup, you may be drinking or smoking illegal substances, but every once and a while, there were the cops busting balls. And looking back, they did the right thing. They should be able to search you if you're doing something suspicious. If it's for the benefit of the neighborhood, what's the big deal if they ask you to empty your pockets? If you have nothing to hide, then there shouldn't be a problem.

3. "They" are the graffiti task force. You can locate who's doing specific graffiti by how prolific it is in an area. Like i said, teenagers hang out in parks. You will find a lot of the specific tag in a certain park because it will be their turf. At that point, you can start pinning down the general area of where the punk hangs out and this will give you a better chance of catching them. It's not a science, but it can be done. Also, like the subways, if you make sure you paint over it real quick, the taggers will be less likely to tag there again.

VoodooDonut, you did the right thing by not leaving your premise as recommended,why put yourself or members of your family at risk over a crime that can be painted over.

If you walked up to the Police and told them what you observed and an arrest was made you would have to testify as a witness.

The court would levy a fine and you would be looking over your shoulder for quite a while.

Talk about LOL statements, nothing could top the suggestion to walk up the block and come back down on the other side, like these punks wouldn't remember your face if you walk on the other side of the street

And be sure to wear a mask

Presumably the evil next-door neighbor in the chalk-drawing case wasn't afraid of retribution by the six-year-old, and therefore fingered her to the cops.

Personally, I think the kid's parents should have gotten cans of spray paint and done a post-midnight job on the neighbor's brownstone...