Graffiti Back in Subways, Indelibly This Time
Acid-etched graffiti on an A train in Manhattan Monday. Officials say only the newest subway cars, which have plastic-coated windows, are resistant to the indelible markings.
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By THOMAS J. LUECK
Published: April 25, 2006Of all the images from the 1970's and 1980's of a city out of control, perhaps none is etched more deeply into the public consciousness than that of the graffiti-covered subway train screeching into a station, every inch of its surface covered with a rich patina of spray-painted slashes and scrawls.
It took decades of work and millions of dollars to clean up the trains. But now officials are seeing a fresh surge of subway graffiti, in which windows are irreparably damaged with acid. Raising the specter of the bad old days, transit officials are vowing to fight a problem they say is even more menacing than the graffiti of decades past.
"Not on my watch are we going to have what John Lindsay had when he was mayor," said Barry L. Feinstein, the chairman of the Transit Committee of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, referring to the mayor who came into office in 1966 just as the craze for marking subway cars with slogans, gang names and signatures — known as "tags" — hit its stride.
"I've seen it on every line, on almost every train," said Andrew B. Albert, chairman of the New York City Riders Council, a state-sponsored advocacy group, who said the acid-based graffiti first appeared on subway windows about six months ago. Mr. Albert is a nonvoting member of the Transit Committee, which met yesterday.
He said the most common material used by the new breed of graffiti vandals is Armor Etch-All, an etching acid sold in art supply stores that is used by craftspeople to etch into glass or other materials. To create graffiti with the acid, it is mixed with paint or shoe polish, Mr. Albert said. And when applied to subway windows, it most commonly leaves broad, sweeping, indelible marks, which subway crews cannot remove in subway yards, as they do with painted graffiti.
Transit officials said that most subway windows are vulnerable and pose an expensive problem because they cost up to $130 each to replace. Only the newest of subway cars, acquired since about 2000, are resistant to the new generation of graffiti, because their windows are protected with Mylar, a plastic coating that can be peeled off and replaced.
Charles F. Seaton, a spokesman for New York City Transit, the arm of the transportation authority that oversees the subways, said yesterday that one option being explored is to apply Mylar coating to all subway car windows, but that the cost and effectiveness had not been determined.
Lawrence G. Reuter, the president of New York City Transit, told Mr. Feinstein's committee that his staff would report next month on how the subway cars were being defaced and what could be done about it.
Mr. Feinstein instructed transit officials to find out whether the etching acid posed a hazard to riders, as well as windows. Anyone who touches it before it is embedded in glass or dries could be burned, he said.
Mr. Albert said he knew of no cases of riders being burned, but the hazard may be serious because the current graffiti vandals tend to make their marks on trains that are in service. Their predecessors in the 1970's were more likely to sneak into subway yards and deface stationary trains when no passengers were nearby.
Another difference is that the new subway graffiti usually looks like a crude scrawl, rather than the detailed writing or representational art that was common in the graffiti of years past and has shown up again on the sides of buildings from Williamsburg to the South Bronx. The crude etching-acid graffiti is also easily distinguished from the messages that vandals have long carved into subway windows using knives or sharp objects.
The city's resurgent graffiti problem, on buildings as well as subways, has not escaped the notice of City Hall. In December, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg signed into law a ban on possession of "graffiti instruments," including etching acid, by anyone under 21. Besides etching acid, the ban covers such things as aerosol paint and broad-tipped indelible markers, which are used by graffiti vandals on buildings.
Opponents of the city ban have said it infringes on freedom of speech. Yesterday, according to The Associated Press, a lawyer said he would file suit today in federal court in Manhattan to challenge the ban as "overly broad." The lawyer, Daniel Perez, said he was representing seven high school and college students who are supported by Marc Ecko, a fashion designer.
Mr. Albert said that volunteers with his group would conduct spot checks at art supply stores across the city to see if merchants are promoting sales of the etching acid.
"We want to see if it is right out there on the counter," he said.
If you dont know who they are then you are not supposed to know!
If you dont know who they are then you are not supposed to know!
