Graffiti and Dog Dropping Eyesores at Octagon Boat Prow Dock
While walking towards the Octagon Park this past weekend, I passed by the West Promenade dock shaped like the prow of a boat and was disgusted by the amount of graffiti plastered all over it. The graffiti strewn dock, both inside and out, is quite an eyesore and has been like that for years. It should be cleaned up. Is this the responsibility of RIOC, the Octagon owners or someone else? Whoever is responsible has neglected this area for a very long time and should clean the area immediately. There is also plenty of dog droppings in the grassy area surrounding the dock. It is obvious that dog owners are not cleaning up after their pets and should start to do so or the Public Safety Department should start issuing some tickets.
The NY Times FYI column from 2000 provides some more information on Roosevelt Island's protruding rusty old ship's prow:
It's a performance stage and observation platform, built over an old boat landing in 1997 and designed to look . . . well, like a ship's prow. It projects about 50 feet out into the West Channel, and consists of a flat, unadorned concrete wedge clad with rusty plates of steel. Two small slots near the tip -- presumably for imaginary anchor chains -- are the only real nautical embellishment, though a few heavy mooring posts have been placed nearby.Today's Metro reports on how graffiti problem was eliminated in the subway system:
“We had to put in place not only clean trains, but the means to keep them clean,” he said. “We also decided that once you put out a clean train it would never go out dirty. If we could keep them clean, we could make a projection as to when the last train with graffiti would run.”Let's get the Octagon boat prow dock cleaned up!
...In a train yard at 132nd Street, the graffiti was sophisticated. With the same trains laid up every evening, taggers could take their time: one night for an undercoat, the next for an outline and the third for color.
“These kids worked three nights, all night long, until they had something they were proud of,” Gunn said. “Just before the train would go into service ... we’d have cops dressed as car cleaners come in to slosh paint all over it. The kids would be in hysterics, literally, crying and begging you to let it make just one trip.”
3 comments :
the dog poop is part of the octagon's plan to keep other islanders out of the park, and free up the bbq grills: the entire park, from prow to stern, has been covered in a solid one-inch-thick layer of dog crap.
the first part is april fools, but the second... i sh*t you not!
I know I'm in the minority, but I don't mind the graffiti. Gives it character. Imagine how interesting that bow could be if they opened it up and officially allowed artists to work on it (rather than the random and pointless tags which adorn it now). What's interesting about something that always stays the same? Not too much. With graffiti, it's an ever-evolving, interesting look into human expression (I know, that's a stretch for the current, lame stuff thats on it, but POTENTIALLY it could be interesting). And for what it's worth, I am NOT a graffiti tagger.
the removal of graffiti in the subway system was directly linked (read Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point) to a reduction in crime. It's an eyesore and I completely agree that we should clean it up. If we want to tag random ironwork, there are places in Brooklyn that savor just that, I'll even contribute the one-way metrocard fare.
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