Quantcast

Graffiti cleaned up in Glendale

80thSt Glendale Sept15 Graffiti CleanUp AlexM_JPA team_104 Pct
Photo courtesy of State Senator Joe Addabbo’s office

The 104th Precinct has a new ally in its war on graffiti — a new power washer.

“There were certain buildings — like brick — that we wouldn’t paint over, but now we can clean up the graffiti,” said Police Officer Justin Dambinskas.

The power washer was used to remove graffiti from the road barriers along 80th Street adjacent to Atlas Park on Saturday, September 15. Alex Maureau, constituent liaison in State Senator Joseph Addabbo’s office, joined the clean-up to rid the area of trash and overgrown weeds.

The paint, gloves, brushes and trash bags were provided by the senator’s office.

Dambinskas said that while there is still some graffiti in the area, the problem has waned.

He said the 400 graffiti arrests in the precinct last year have been cut in half.

“Because of the arrests and because it gets cleaned within a week, people won’t spray paint here anymore; they’re leaving the precinct to spray paint,” said Dambinskas, who is on the precinct’s graffiti unit.

Last year, the 104th Precinct removed graffiti from more than 1,600 spots; this year the number is 800, he said.