Tag, You're It: Huntington Village Buildings Vandalized Regularly

Over the weekend, vandals spray-painted an indecipherable (to me, anyway) abstract figure in red on the east-side approach of the Huntington Arts Council building at 213 Main Street.

While the building gets hit regularly, the placement so blatantly at the front of the building was new, according to Dianne Matus, public relations officer for the council.

"We had never been tagged at the front, let alone so high up, just in the back previously," she said in an email response. "We knew we needed to clear it up ASAP, so we just painted over it. The graffiti on the back is still there."

According to Chapter 119 of the Huntington Town Code, property owners who have been the recipient of graffiti have ten days to clean up the vandalism  from the time they receive a summons from code enforcement.

Official language: All graffiti on property shall be removed and the surface finish restored by the property owner within ten (10) days of issuance of a notice of violation by the town.

If it is not cleaned up, the Town Board could order the clean up done by workers from the Town's Department of Public Safety and the property owner could be charged for the work and an administrative fee could be added.

If the property owner refuses to pay, a tax lien could be placed on the property and/or he or she could face fines of up to $500 for a first offense and between $1,000 and $2,500 for a second offense and civil penalties of up to $250 per day.

The building to the west of the council, the law offices of David Collins and Sean Campbell, was also tagged in red over the weekend. Campbell said he approached the building from the west and did not see the red paint until alerted by Huntington Patch. He said he had never seen graffiti toward the front of the building before.

Responsibility for conducting or financing that clean up is the owners, a corporation called 29 Greene Street, LLC, which town records state is located at 23 Green St.

It appears that the rear of the law office is also a frequent target of graffiti. Because the exterior is vinyl, it can't easily be painted over so it must be scrubbed off. Old graffiti is still visible on the north side of the building.

A path on the east side of Collins and Campbell—owned by the town, incidentally—heads north and leads to a parking lot and fenced in area behind Gold Coast Lobster, the front of which is located at 30 Stewart Avenue.

This appears to be a popular spot for graffiti 'artists,' as well, a fact confirmed by tenant of Jeff and Steven Carbone, who own Gold Coast Lobster and the building that was the target of the vandalism. He was frepainting the rear of the building Monday and said he expected to be doing it again soon.

"I will get this cleaned up and it will be painted again after next weekend, " he said, saying he preferred not to give his name but that he is concerned about his hometown. "I was born and raised here. So were my father and grandfather, and it scares me what I am seeing. Parents, keep your kids home. There is nothing for them to do here."

The brick exterior 1905 Trade School building to the east of the arts council owned by the Huntington Historical Society was also tagged recently but with less extensive use of paint or marker than was seen on the other buildings.

The town has  attempted to control graffiti by prohibiting the sale to minors of and making it unlawful for minors to carry "aerosol spray paint can or broad-tipped indelible marker into any public building or other public facility without adult supervision."

But, if minors are doing most of their 'work' on the exterior of buildings, or if it's being done by non-minors, I am not sure how effective that is.

And, beyond how unattractive graffiti is, Huntington residents say they are concerned about what some of the tags mean. are these tags messages from local members of the Bloods gang claiming the area? Red is known to be a color of the Bloods, according to the Gang Awareness Guide published by the New Jersey State Attorney General's office. A pdf copy of a brochure is attached to this article. (I was unable to find a similar New York resource, although it likely exists.)

Apparently, to send an opposing message, green spray-painted peace signs have begun appearing all over Huntington. In addition to the peace signs read: gangs not welcome here. These 'tags,' however, were first painted on posterboard so no property was damaged.

At the county level, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy has formed a graffiti task force in February and last week launched a 'Graffiti-Cleanup Initiative' in Brentwood and Central Islip.

The task force has determined that, while graffiti might seem relatively harmless, "its aggregate effects on our social and physical environment are extreme. Graffiti is violative of public health, presents an image of a deteriorating community, contributes to a ineffectiveness and places an unfair burden on taxpayers." It states that one of the best ways to combat graffiti is to remove it quickly.

During the news conference at the clean up, Levy urged area residents and business owners, as well as local governments, to participate in the initiative by cleaning up buildings and properties that they own.

But looking at the boathouse at the county-owned Coindre Hall, one must wonder why Levy does not follow his own recommendations or the town enforce their laws on this.