Hail to the new graffiti busters group

BY VICTOR G. MIMONI

Friday, August 7, 2009 12:16 PM EDT

A newly-formed group of graffiti busters took to the streets recently – leaving sections of Auburndale and Bayside improved in their wake.

The group, the Auburndale-Bayside Anti-Graffiti Volunteers, fanned out on Sunday, July 26 and within a few hours, obliterated graffiti from over 40 locations in the two northeast Queens residential neighborhoods.

Defaced property that was restored by the volunteers included street lights, mailboxes, road signs, fire hydrants and boxes, telephone poles and more, according to the group’s founder, Michael Sais.

“By all accounts, today was a huge success,” Sais said.

Volunteers of all ages participated in the cleanup, including members of the Auburndale Improvement Association, Station Road Civic Association, Community Boards 7 and 11, the 109th and 111th Police Precinct Community Councils, Citizens Against Graffiti Everywhere (CAGE) and local college students.

One focus of the group’s blitz, the intersection of Station Road and Utopia Parkway, has been considered to be ground zero for graffiti in the community.

“An abundance of graffiti can easily send the wrong impression about our neighborhood,” Sais said. “The area has been transformed and that is a tremendous victory for this community. Like night and day.”

The corner was home to a half-dozen, 10-foot tall gates covered in large graffiti, in addition to numerous graffiti covered street signs and telephone poles “easily making it one of the most prominent eyesores in the community,” volunteers agreed.

“The Station Road Civic Association was proud to team with our neighboring civics to jointly work at reducing this visual blight,” said Chrissy Voskerichian and Rhea O’Gorman, Co-Presidents of the Station Road Civic Association.

“Neighborhood stability and appearance are improved in areas that are litter-free, graffiti-free and tree-lined,” said Henry Euler, 1st Vice President of the Auburndale Improvement Association and a member of Community Board 11. “The more we all work together on achieving these goals, the better our city will be.”

Experience shows that a single cleanup is only a first step in a campaign to dissuade graffiti vandals. Sais made it clear that he and his group are in the fight for the long haul.

“Graffiti is a destructive and dangerous attack on the quality of life in our community,” he said, adding, “I simply refuse to idly stand by while these crimes continue to be perpetrated.”

Photos Courtesy Auburndale-Bayside Anti-Graffiti Volunteers<> A new group, the Auburndale-Bayside Anti-Graffiti Volunteers, took to the streets of their neighborhoods recently to obliterate graffiti.