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By RON LIEBACK [email protected]
Thursday, August 07, 2003 Page: 3A
KINGSTON – Take a drive through Kingston and it can be seen almost
everywhere – on businesses, bridges and billboards.
Graffiti – including the tag “troph” – has been multiplying in the
municipality.
Now, resident Kevin Cowen of North Maple Avenue wants the municipality to
take steps to stop it.
Cowen presented a plan, which he calls project gold, to council Monday to
help eliminate the eyesores.
“The first goal is to eliminate the existing graffiti in the community,”
Cowen said.
Cowen hopes painting over graffiti will discourage vandals who see their
work removed and reduce their urge to “tag.”
He said residents will have to remain vigilant and remove new graffiti soon
after it goes up.
“As soon as you paint over it, kids might be back,” Cowen said. “This
(removing graffiti quickly) will help minimize the challenge.”
Hopefully, kids will eventually grow up and move on to better things, he
said.
Council member John Sopp agreed something must be done to discourage
graffiti.
“You just can’t go around and vandalize property,” Sopp said.
Sopp also said the major graffiti problem seems to be mainly one person,
“Troph.”
He said some of these “Troph” paintings “had to happen over a couple
nights. I don’t know why they can’t be caught.”
Cowen said his plan is modeled after a plan in New York City, where
officials start with the smaller graffiti sites and work their way up to the
bigger sites. “Small changes became a reduction in the larger.”
Council member Nancy Cooper recommended Cowen work with the Kingston Crime
Watch to get his program started.
Cowen said they need people to volunteer, supplies and a place to store the
supplies. He also said they need a common reporting place for graffiti.
“Make it disappear,” Cowen said. “And it will stop on its own.”
Kingston had considered offering a reward for information leading to the
arrest of people responsible for graffiti but tabled the motion.
Borough Administrator Paul Keating has said police have a lead in their
investigation. Police did not return three calls Wednesday for comment.