Updated: Brown out again at the Verizon building

The staff watching over the Verizon building on Second Avenue at 13th Street has apparently stocked up again on brown paint... the tags that lined the 13th Street side were painted over last week...



Perhaps this marks a return to the brown paint wars that dominated local headlines from 2012-2014.

Tags would fill up the wall. Someone would cover them with brown paint. The tags would return. So did the brown paint. And so on.

For several years it seemed as if Verizon was willing to just let the graffiti stay (in part because the 13th Street side was covered with a sidewalk bridge...)

In any event, here's what the wall looked liked before the latest brown out last week...







Updated 8/14

EVG reader Jen Pace noted these arrivals today...



Previously on EV Grieve:
Sidewalk bridge finally hauled away from the Verizon building on 2nd Avenue

Fire under sidewalk bridge on 13th Street temporarily brings an end to homeless encampment

First tag reappears on the Verizon building

Brownout: Verizon building graffiti painted over

Verizon is going to blow the budget on brown paint

Graffiti space giving way to Greek restaurant on 10th Street

Graffiti, the acclaimed small-plates (and small) restaurant from chef Jehangir Mehta, has not been open lately on 10th Street between Avenue A and First Avenue.

At first glance, it appeared that some kind of renovation was going on inside the space. In any event there hasn't been any mention of a closure — temporary or permanent — on the restaurant's website or social media properties.

Now there's a Community Board notice stating that an applicant is seeking a new liquor license (beer and wine) for the address...



The applicant is for the Athenian NYC Inc. The applicant's name is Kamal Kouiri, the wine director and general manager of Molyvos, a Greek restaurant on Seventh Avenue in Midtown. The questionnaire isn't online just yet with more details about what to expect here.

And no word on the status of Me and You, Mehta's space for private dining next door...



Mehta's Graffiti Earth remains open in Tribeca.

Graffiti opened in 2007, and drew praise for Mehta's inventive food pairings.

Higher learning

Earlier in the week, the "NYC not NYU" message arrived outside the Dunkin' Donuts on First Avenue and Sixth Street.

And by yesterday...


[Photo by @edenbrower]

Updated!

SMU is getting into the act, too, per Goggla...

Classic tags uncovered at under-renovation Lafayette Street building

[Photo from July 2]

Workers have been converting the former women's shelter at 350 Lafayette at Bond into a luxury retail store.

During the exterior work, the workers uncovered a decades-old DONDI tag as well as a barely visible SAMO© tag ... graffiti blogger/photography Fresh Paint NYC first made the discovery...

For those that want to see an original DONDI tag it's located at Lafayette and Bond. Probably will be gone in a few hours. Also if you have laser beam eyes you can probably make out the SAMO©. #dondicia #dondiwhite @doctc5 @bkstreetart @marthacoopergram @12ozprophet @outlaw_arts @faustnewyork @massappeal @thelisaprojectnyc @boweryboogieuncapped @streetartnyc ✌🏻

A post shared by @freshpaintnyc on Aug 28, 2017 at 10:09am PDT

"If you don't sell your life, how do you buy back your survival? Down With Wage Slavery." -- Many layers of paint were removed from a building on Lafayette Street, revealing some historic graffiti. #streetphotography #graffiti #nycgraffiti #downwithwageslavery

A post shared by TheDustyRebel (@dustyrebel) on Aug 28, 2017 at 2:33pm PDT

As Mass Appeal noted, "By the time of his death at the age of 37 in 1998, DONDI had cemented his legacy as one of the greatest graffiti writers to ever come out of New York City."

As for 350 Lafayette, Aby Rosen bought the building in 2015 for $26 million. The Center of Urban Community Services was the operator of what DNAinfo described as "one of the city's most highly-regarded homeless shelters for 27 years." Rosen intends to sign a single luxury retailer for the space. The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission OK'd the transformation of the landmarked space in February 2016.





Rosen did preserve the Sean “NEKST” Griffin tag during renovations at 190 Bowery.

Noted

An EVG reader shared this from earlier today... a worker attempting to scrub off a spray-painted message inside the front door of a Steve Croman-owned buidling on Avenue A between Seventh Street and St. Mark's Place.

The message reads, in part: "NYU frats suck," and you can see the rest.

Last month, someone spray painted "Rats > Frats" on the new Big Belly trash can nearby on the northwest corner of Avenue A and Seventh Street.

Brown and out on East 13th Street

An EVG reader, with perhaps a hint of disappoint in his email, noted that we hadn't, uh, noted the ongoing graffiti v. brown-paint battle along Verizon's wall on East 13th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue in a really long time.

Sure enough, it has been nearly 15 months.

OK! So the wall still attracts various tags...



... and images...



...and whatever this was...

Using graffiti to attract buyers for the million-dollar condos along Avenue A

[The future northwest corner of Avenue A and 11th Street]

Earlier this month, details emerged about developer Douglas Steiner's incoming residential building (rendering above) along Avenue A between East 11th Street and East 12th Street.

For instance, condos in the 82-unit building — officially 438 E. 12th St. — will start at $1.1 million for a 1-bedroom home. And the building amenities include a 50-foot-long pool, a spa, a gym, a library, a playroom, parking and a landscaped courtyard and rooftop gardens.

There's also a teaser site where potential buyers can learn more info about the project.

The development's marketing team also decided to go the graffiti route in advertising the official website along the plywood on Avenue A...



So...

Edgy?
Hip?
Cool?
Clueless?
Laughable?
All the above?

Thanks to EVG reader Gail George for the photo!

Previously on EV Grieve:
New residential complex at former Mary Help of Christians lot may include rooftop swimming pool

Meet your new neighbor on Avenue A

Permits filed to demolish Mary Help of Christians church, school and rectory

Preservationists call for archeological review of former cemetery at Mary Help of Christians site

The 'senseless shocking self-destruction' of Mary Help of Christians

Residences rising from the former Mary Help of Christians lot will now be market-rate condos

Ongoing construction at condoplex on Avenue A enters the swimming pool phase

Report: Developer Douglas Steiner lands $130 million loan for EV condo construction

Douglas Steiner's church-replacing condos emerge from the pit; plus new renderings

With CleaNYC, Mayor de Blasio declares war on litter, graffiti

[Random 1st Avenue photo from last month]

Mayor de Blasio today announced the formation of CleaNYC, "a holistic effort to keep communities clean in all five boroughs."

Per ABC 7:

The effort will include stepped up Graffiti-Free NYC efforts, sidewalk power washing in commercial corridors, the expansion of Sunday and holiday litter basket collection service, and high shoulder/ramp cleanup.

Graffiti-Free NYC will remove graffiti from private and public structures, power wash sidewalks and remove stains from street furniture. The new Graffiti-Free NYC trucks will be equipped with power inverters, allowing the equipment to run without using the engines or gas-powered generators.

Per DNAinfo:

"This is so important for the lives of everyday New Yorkers for whom their neighborhood is the center of their life," de Blasio said. "It's so important for our small businesses, it's important of our economy. And the people of this city deserve nothing less than the cleanest city we can make it."

Under the plan, announced a day ahead of the mayor's State of the City address, the Department of Sanitation will increase litter basket pickups on Sundays and holidays by 40 percent in heavily trafficked areas starting April 1 by adding 20 more trucks.

Per a city news release announcing the initiative, CleaNYC will cost $4.2 million in expense funds in Fiscal Year 2017, and $2.5 million in capital funds.

The return of the 'White Negro' tag

EVG reader Ronnie shared this photo from earlier today on East Fifth Street at Avenue B.

We don't recall seeing this tag since the spring of 2009, when it started showing up on walls around the neighborhood.


[EVG photo on Avenue A from 2009]

Report: Fewer arrests and complaints about graffiti in the city

[East 2nd Street at Avenue C]

The Post checks in with an article titled "Graffiti arrests drop 30% as complaints keep pouring in" about how NYC is in ruins and stuff because of de Blasio.

To some stats!

• Graffiti arrests are down 31 percent since 2013.

• The police have arrested 2,497 "aerosol artists" (as the Post puts it) in the city so far this year, compared with 2,772 over the same period last year, and 3,598 in all of 2013, according to NYPD data.

• To date in 2015, there have been 13,185 graffiti-related calls to 311 ... which is down 11 percent from the 14,830 complaints in the same period last year, but up 3 percent from the 12,854 complains in 2013.

So. Fewer complaints than last year... and fewer arrests.

Sunset Park received 970 graffiti complaints this year... followed by Williamsburg/Greenpoint with 877 and the East Village/Lower East Side with 678.

As the Post notes:

Graffiti is a bellwether of “broken windows” crime, experts have said.

Someone tagged the 1832 white marble stoop of the Merchant’s House Museum — again

[Image via Facebook]

On Friday evening, the circa-1832 white marble stoop of the Merchant’s House Museum was hit with graffiti.

In July, someone tossed high-staining ink in the same location here on East Fourth Street between the Bowery and Lafayette.


[Image via Merchant's House Museum]

"We are heartbroken, as you can imagine," Margaret Halsey Gardiner, the Museum's executive director, told us via email.

She said that the cost to remove the latest tags will cost the Museum upwards of $4,000.

About that Bill de Blasio-tagged van on East 6th Street

The other evening we noticed this van with the Bill de Blasio tag on it parked on East Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B.

Turns out the van belongs to Vit Horejs, artistic director of the Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre. He owns several vans, all named Molly, to transport theatrical equipment.

According to Bonnie Sue Stein, Vit's friend and director of the nonprofit organization 7 Loaves Inc/GOH Productions, the de Blasio tag arrived about two weeks ago.

"The van was not tagged for weeks when we got it, but as soon as one person started, it hasn't stopped," said Stein, a community organizer in the East Village for more than 30 years. "It's frustrating. Vit says he wishes they did a better job. It's not very well-executed. It's a mess. People have been laughing about the de Blasio tag. And one woman who saw it said we should sell the van to a museum because of the de Blasio tag."

Extra Place now graffiti free (for the moment)

On Friday, someone painted over all the tags in Extra Place…



…the seven-years-in the-making-and-failing-so-far pedestrian mall behind the former alley behind CBGB…



Not sure why the tags were painted over. Because someone deemed them unsightly? Too make way for some new art project? Patrons of the recently opened Momofuku Ko didn't like looking at them?

Dunno!

As for the Momofuku Ko here that took the place of the restaurants Heidi and Extra Place… Per Eater:

Momofuku Ko... has raised the price of dinner to $175, an increase of $50 over the old menu. With that higher cost come more indulgences: the two-Michelin-starred restaurant has lengthened the menu to 17-courses.

So what does this all mean for your wallet? A meal for two at Ko, after tax and tip, will cost $451, a 40 percent hike over the old cost of $322. Add on beverage pairings at $155, and a dinner date will run you $851.

Previously on EV Grieve:
A look inside the incoming Momofuko Ko on Extra Place

With new restaurant opening, will Extra Place finally become a dining destination?

Extra Place now officially a Dead End

Extra Place and Heidi currently 'closed for renovation' in Extra Place

Graffiti on, graffiti off

Oh just watching a worker clean graffiti off the Cooper Union Academic Building…

The Post discovers graffiti around the city

[East Houston and B]

Meant to note this article in the Post the other day titled "Graffiti rearing its ugly head again in NYC."

Let's get to it!

Graffiti, a “broken windows” indicator about the quality of life in any city, is starting a slow, ugly creep around the Big Apple — with new tags appearing nightly.

The Post goes on to list several places where they've seen graffiti, such as along the FDR, Summit Avenue in the Bronx, the Amtrak tracks visible from the West Side Highway, under bridges on the East River.

Let's get to some stats!

Graffiti arrests in the city rose 4 percent in the first eight months of the year, to 1,080, city statistics show. But despite law enforcement’s best effort, graffiti continues to leave its mark.

The NYPD arrested 3,598 people for graffiti and related crimes in 2013, up slightly from 2012 but down 13 percent from the 4,000-plus levels of 2009 and 2008, city statistics show.

So, the NYPD is making arrests. How about the city cleaning up the graffiti?

The Sanitation Department is about a year behind on clean-ups. Since August 2013, the agency had closed 7,166 graffiti reports, but as of last Aug. 31, had another 7,739 still open.

And the service does not clean up the city’s own roadways, bridges or parks.

More stats!

According to open data Web information, since 2003, 81,525 graffiti reports were made to 311 and the police responded to 1,161 of those.

And then the article just sort of ends.


[Avenue A]

So… anyone think there's more graffiti in this neighborhood in recent years? It doesn't seem that way to me, though I don't work for the Post.

Former 2nd Avenue BP station making for a fine tapestry

The BP station on Second Avenue and East First Street closed in early July.

So until whatever new development comes along here (the rumor is boutique hotel), the property is providing a fine canvas for, well, all this...









Anyway, nothing yet on file with the DOB for the address.

Previously on EV Grieve:
RUMOR: Gas station going, boutique hotel coming on Second Avenue? (31 comments)

BP station on 2nd Avenue closes this month

The 2nd Avenue BP station has closed

Surprise! Police Commissioner not a big fan of 'celebrating graffiti'

[East 6th Street at 1st Avenue]

Police Commissioner William Bratton responded to the Museum of the City of New York's graffiti-art exhibit "City as Canvas."

"I find it outrageous that one of the city's museums is currently celebrating graffiti and what a great impact it had on the city," Bratton said Monday during a meeting with Wall Street Journal editors.

And later...

Mr. Bratton further objected to "having New York City school kids at the impressionable age of 12 years old walking through looking at this stuff and having it advertised as 'Isn't this great?'"

And the museum's response?

Susan Henshaw Jones, City Museum's director, said the show is intended to show how graffiti became an art form, not to glorify vandalism. "We are not in the business of trying to encourage children, teenagers, grown-ups or elders to do graffiti," she said.

Read the article here. (Subscription required)

1st tag returns to Verizon's freshly painted brown wall

[This morning]

Workers painted over the rest of the tags along East 13th Street at Second Avenue on July 28.

It wasn't really the best brown paint job that we'd ever seen.



We walked by that day and noticed that workers got paint and water-blasted graffiti residue on the cars parked here.



Previously.

Painting over the SMELLS on Avenue A

Back in January, the NYPD arrested five people for tagging the roof of 201 Avenue A … A police spokesperson told Gothamist: "Officers observed the word 'Smells' painted in letters six to seven feet tall, and around 10 feet wide."



Anyway, EVG reader dwg points out that workers just painted over the SMELLS tag… as well as the one that had already been up there…



The Post reported that the NYPD charged all five with "making graffiti, criminal trespassing and resisting arrest."

Previously on EV Grieve:
[Updated] Reader report: Taggers nabbed on Avenue A (36 comments)

Capturing 'Cool'

[From August 2013 via EVG reader Marc]

Yesterday's item about the apparent arrest of graffiti writer SMELL reminded me of this post, which I never finished ... I had been documenting some of the Cool tags around the neighborhood... it's the work of "Drew," whose "Ross is Not Cool" tag on David Schwimmer's new East Sixth Street estate in August generated coverage everywhere from the supermarket tabloids to Vanity Fair.

Here are but a few Cool tags from recent months... Anyway, these tags — scourge of the city or a welcome part of the urban landscape?