BY ANGELA MATUA
Vandals in Hamilton Beach have struck again.
Police on Saturday stopped a group of individuals loitering on the footbridge that connects Hamilton Beach to Howard Beach around 7:30 p.m. During their investigation, police determined that a member of the group, an 18-year-old Howard Beach resident, scrawled a lewd image on the crossing moments earlier; a paint marker was found in his possession.
Reportedly, three of the suspects were taken into police custody. Two were issued criminal court summonses and released, while the Howard Beach teenager was charged with making graffiti and criminal mischief.
Hamilton Beach Civic Association President Roger Gendron said graffiti has been a problem on the blue bridge for decades.
“It has its high moments and its low times,” Gendron said. “There will be a lot of it and it’ll really peter out. These kids happened to get caught, which is good.”
Two Hamilton Beach residents became fed up with the graffiti last year and painted one side of the bridge dark green to deter vandals. But Gendron said that people just used lighter spray paint colors to make the graffiti visible.
Gendron said the civic association is looking to purchase anti-graffiti coating and would ultimately like for the Department of Transportation to coat the entire bridge. Though the coating is expensive, Gendron said it lasts for 10 years and would make it much easier for the graffiti to be washed away.
Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder said he has worked with the civic association and auxiliary police to clean up graffiti and has discussed purchasing anti-graffiti coating and putting up security cameras near the bridge.
But the biggest problem, he said, is the lack of resources for the police department.
“I don’t think there are enough resources in the police department to be able to stay on top of quality-of-life issues,” Goldfeder said. “Deputy Inspector Jeffrey Schiff and the 106th are doing an amazing job. I just think they need more resources. We’re going to keep doing everything we can to clean graffiti once it’s painted and prevent it in the future.”
Gendron said the graffiti brings down the quality of the community and is another headache for residents who are trying to build back their neighborhood after Hurricane Sandy.
“Some people call it art, some people call it graffiti. While some of it is beautiful, it shouldn’t be done unless it’s [allowed],” Gendron said.
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