No, this isn’t about design issues or about density concerning that controversial proposed building at 360 Smith Street in Carroll Gardens. Nope. It’s about signs allegedly being painted over by the NYPD and, then, quickly replaced by residents. If you’ve walked out of the Second Place exit of the Carroll Street station in recent week, you’ve probably noticed that it’s become a kind of community bulletin board for anti-360 Smith sentiment. Signs have gone up. They’ve been torn down. They’ve been put back up. Etc.
In any case, we got an email from a resident that said:
Mr. Kim at the deli and his employee told me last night that a van with the NYPD loaded with men in it came up to the concrete wall AND PAINTED OVER our signage!
Can you believe it? Is this what the NYPD has time to do? They left a broken down shopping carriage and a wall with ugly graffiti on it (i guess that was “as of right) but they managed to do a SUPERB job on covering all our signage with a nice grey paint.
We don’t know if what Mr. Kim says he saw is what actually happened, but someone clearly painted the wall. And residents clearly replaced their signage (see below). Residents are also asking that the developer make the new design of the 360 Smith Street building, which is the work of architect Robert Scarano, available to them as soon as possible.
3 responses so far ↓
1 benjimoore // Jun 15, 2007 at 3:55 pm
Thanks to the scaracops, the signs will be more visible. I am nervous to see the building erected and tagged
2 David // Jun 15, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Hi,
I used to live on the upper floor of the old carriage house at 385 Carrol St., next to the Carrol St./Gowanus Bridge. It was fantastic late night entertainment to sit up there and observe the various sketchy going-ons that were happening at night. One evening we saw a truck pull up to a deserted and graffiti-ed building across the street, the truck was marked something like, “NYPD Graffiti Unit”, I can’t recall exactly, it has been a few years. Anyway a couple of unofficial looking types got out of the truck, and they pulled out a spray gun on a long hose with a compressor in the truck, and sprayed over all of the graffiti on the building. I haven’t seen that type of truck before or since, but anyway, I wonder if that was the same folks that sprayed your stuff(was there graffiti around where your 360 Smith street info was posted?) It is odd if they actually sprayed over paper signage rather than just ripping it down though, if they didn’t want it there.. Although, having lived in Brooklyn for about 10 years now, if that is actually what happened, I would be inclined to chalk it up to ignorance and apathy rather than conspiracy.
3 Anonymous // Jun 16, 2007 at 8:49 am
The City is deperate to keep up the fraud of the gentrification in brooklyn and ignore all the flagrant new building that don’t pass code even but are sold none the less dso the new white buyers can get stuck later when they go to sell. This action by the NYPD is more of the City trying to hid the problems! The City is depserate for the tax $$ that they get from the dopey new buyers.
I saw the City having parks workers cleaning up a big empty lot that is privately owned!! It wasn’t a dumping ground or anything, just high grass some random trash…oh but its in trendy williamsburg wher they want to sell $600K + 1 bed condos…..The thing the big lot os vacant (corner of Gtand and Driggs( because they tested it for enviromental issues a year+ ago due to history of site….Its gotta get clean up enviromentally…duh so its empty until the owner who bought it from the local who smartly unloaded it a while ago to a buyer who clearly didn’t do his homework….Oh but maybe the City will mak it a park…They like to make brownfields in Williamsburg parks for young kids (ie Kent and n. 8th st) and god knows what sits under the Grand st park at Kent…just a few short steps from Radiac (spillage? inside)? Yep the City is dpesperate