The Bayonne Public Advocate

UPDATE (2:15PM): I just got en email from Stan Marko, as it turns out he emailed all members of the city Council on July 14th with the graffiti issue after the original story by Scott Y was picked up on a blog known as Plancks Constant.

Recently in the Jersey Journal and on the local Bayonne forums the topic of conversation has been the problem of graffiti in Bayonne. However a bit of a controversy has developed over who knew about & reacted to the problem first. Local Councilman and Assemblyman Anthony Chiappone appeared in the Jersey Journal in reaction to the problem kicking off reactions from forum users and the city claiming that the problem was being addressed. So where did the story start? When did Mr. Chiappone notice the problem? How bad is the problem? Is the city really on top of it? When was the first time it was written about? This is one of those issues that I find frustrating about Bayonne. To me, our politicians, police and newspaper have failed us on the issue, while each claiming to be working hard for the cause.

It has become defacto political stance now to make statements in contrary to the actual evidence that exists on a subject. Politicians and newspapers expect us to believe what they are saying just because they are saying. Either they are too lazy to do research or they know the whole story but are purposely misleading us. I think in this case the former is the case rather than the later.

However, in order for the citizens of Bayonne to be truly educated on the issue of graffit in Bayonne, here is the recent timeline I have been able to uncover:

July 10th, Bayonne Community Webboard, from user Scott Y:
“The graffiti problem downtown is at epic proportions, rendering some properties within a couple of blocks of my home more representative of the South Bronx back in the bad old days, rather than the oasis of Hudson County that Bayonne used to be.”
“Gary C. and the Quality of Life office have tried to respond to my and other neighbor’s complaints, but have been outdone by the repetitive, constant tagging that goes on.”
“HEY, TED CONNOLLY!!! You live a couple of blocks away from me. Ever take a walk through your ward? If so, how in the world can you let this area degenerate to the degree it has? Go to Orient and Evergreen Streets, or Cottage and Hobart, or Hobart and Linnett so you can get a gander at some of the “flyest” tagging you’ve ever seen in the First Ward.”
“I don’t know what the Bayonne Police Department has in place to control, if not eliminate this menace, but it ain’t working.”

Scott then goes the extra mile and actually documents the problem with pictures. Kudos to Scott for doing this, as it added real susbstance to his post.

This post is probably what grabbed Councilman Chiappone’s attention. It may be possible that someone who read this tipped him to it, but either way I do not believe that the timing of the Jersey Journal story folling this write up is coincidental.

July 29th, Jersey Journal publishes “Say ‘epidemic’ of graffiti is bringing Bayonne down” by Ronald Lier:
In the article, Councilman Chiappone is quoted: “The spread of graffiti has become so insidious that the city’s Quality of Life office has thrown up its hands, So I’m declaring war on graffiti - I’ll be urging Mayor (Terrence) Malloy to appoint a task force to address the issue.” The article goes on to say Chiappone toured part of the city’s downtown area yesterday with a Jersey Journal reporter and photographer to point out numerous businesses, the Bayonne Community Museum, mail boxes, and homes that have been vandals’ targets in recent months. “It’s now of epidemic proportions and it’s just too expensive and too time-consuming to deal with and it lowers the value of property,” the councilman said.

The question that arises from this article are twofold: Did Councilman Chiappone get the idea for this show & tell with the Jersey Journal because of the extensive documentation of graffiti on the Bayonne Community Webboard? If so, A) why did he not credit it and B) why did the Jersey Journal reporter fail to do his research to find what is redily available on the internet already on this topic?

July 29th, nj.com Bayonne forum, from user LORETIME:
He references a press release from the city of Bayonen dated 4/22/2007 (from Mayor Doria) noted that the city was offering a “graffiti removal service to Bayonne property owners” from the “Bayonne Department of Public Works, Parks, and Recreation.” The release goes on to say “There will be no charge for the removal of graffiti, providing the owner of the property signs a release and indemnification agreement, approved by the City Law Department, releasing the City of Bayonne from any and all liability. To request the graffiti removal service or to ask any questions about the program, please call the Public Works office at 201-858-6070.”

However the press release refers to no graffiti epidemic, neither does it refer to any task force being set up to tackle the issue. It appears to just be a reminder to residents that the city offers this service.

July 29th, nj.com Bayonne forum, from user RansomMike:
Mike posts a youtube clip that was taped on July 1st. This clip shows city officials describing graffiti & vandalism in city parks, stating the problem exists but has not been publicized and that arrests have been made of mostly juveniles. Mike states “This was recorded about one month before Chiappone went out with an unsuspecting Jersey Journal Reporter and Jersey Journal photographer to have himself photographed and quoted in front of a problem that was already being addressed.”

From this city it would seem that the city is aware of vandalism as it related to city owned structures and that they are dealing with the problem to some extent. However this does not deal with the graffiti outside of city owned properties, which is well documented by Scott Y in his original post on the Bayonne Community Webboard.

August 1st, City of Bayonne issues press release “City Departments Fight Graffiti” Some highlights:
“Mayor Terrence Malloy announced that the Bayonne Police Department and Bayonne Department of Public Works, Parks and Recreation have taken major steps to combat graffiti in 2008. ”
“According to the Bayonne Police Department, from January through June 2008, police officers have arrested 53 juveniles for incidents of criminal mischief pertaining to graffiti. In addition, there were other cases in which 9 juveniles were identified as actors in graffiti cases, but the victims did not wish to pursue the cases in Bayonne Municipal Court. ”
“Since January 2008, Public Works has issued 223 work orders that have removed graffiti from 274 locations. The Public Works Department has expended $3,382 in this calendar year for graffiti removal products. Graffiti removal work has covered 334 Public Works man hours at a cost of $6,295. Public Works has spent about $10,000 dealing with graffiti this year. “

The press release then goes on basically verbatim to the press release of 4/22/07. This seems a reaction by the city to the Jersey Journal article. Obviously the statistics sound impressive that are listed in the press release. If one were only to read this press release one might gather that the city has been well on top of this problem.

However, it is obvious from Scott Y’s orginal post on July 10th that the city is not on top of this problem. It appears that while some arrests are being made, and some scrubbing being done, the graffiti is going up quicker than it can be dealt with. All that has occurred has been politics, nothing more & nothing less. The problem remains as it was. Instead of listing statistics & talking about what has been done, what we need is the city, police & newspapers to take some PROACTIVE action on the issue.

Has the PD considered increasing the beat cops in highly tagged areas? If not then why not? We have identified at least a number of areas that consistenly get hit, why not stake the out?
Has the Mayor’s office considered the idea of a task force to deal with the issue? As reactive and come-lately as Chiappone is to the issue, would not a unit specialized on targeting the problem be a good idea?
Has the Jersey Journal considered showing some initiative and doing some investigative reporting on the graffiti issue? Perhaps staking out areas hard hit in order to find out who is doing it, why they are doing it, and what might deter them. re these tags gang related? or just teen angst? Why not interview some teens annoymously thereby shedding at least some light on the issue?

August 6th, 2008 | by admin | Category: BPD, The Mayor | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL