The helicopter was flying over 42^nd and Queens Blvd at 2:00am as police were pursuing three teenagers who were tagging the building above Dunkin’ Donuts.

The police tracked them down and arrested them at 41^stand Queens Blvd at 2:30 am. The three—Jeffery Sanchez, Jonathan Aramis and Aileen Mahmoodi- were all charged with criminal mischief; making graffiti; and possession of a graffiti instrument, police said.

There have been 31 graffiti arrests since the beginning of the year within Police Precinct 108, which covers Sunnyside/Woodside and LIC, according to Lt. Mark Wachter, the 108 precinct’s special operations coordinator. 

Of the 72 NYC police precincts, the 108 has made more graffiti arrests than all the other precincts except for the 104, which is based out of Glendale.

Perpetrators were tagging this roof

Miguel Melchor, 20, allegedly got involved in an altercation at the Queens Blvd theater and then went on to smash the glass in the entrance, police said.

Melchor then proceeded up Queens Boulevard and tagged Lynch Funeral Home and a number of businesses on the Boulevard between 43^rd and 45^th streets, police said. He was later arrested around 11:30 pm.  

Melchor was charged with “criminal mischief” and “making graffiti”. He was charged seven times on the graffiti charges, for tagging numerous locations. His tag was MIGS.

Meanwhile, police reported that a number of auxiliary police officers have been reassigned to the northern side of Queens Blvd., given the recent spate of burglaries and robberies (although the perpetrator of a string of robberies has since been apprehended). Currently, there are between five and 15 volunteer officers assigned to the area.

In recent days, there have been a number of complaints made by residents about noise and fighting at Studio 46, the nightclub located on 46th Street (between Greenpoint and 47th Aves). The police said that a fight broke out there last month between two men that spilled on to the street, but generally the club is no worse than any others. The most common complaint is noise, the police said.

“There have not been any stabbings or anything too out of the ordinary there,” according to a police source. “It’s not as though we have a Casa Romana on our hands.”

More than 70 volunteers turned out on Saturday to attend this fall’s graffiti clean up day.

The event, organized by the Sunnyside United Neighborhood Network (SUNN), drew a disparate group of volunteers– from labor union members to the group’s core resident/members. Local councilman Jimmy Van Bramer was also there, paintbrush in hand.

The volunteers met at the Sunnyside Reformed Church on Skillman Ave (48th Street) at 10:00 am where they were greeted with donuts and coffee. The organizers split the volunteers into groups and sent them out with paint cans, brushes and other tools. Each group was assigned a certain district within the northern section of Sunnyside. Their job description was straight forward: find graffiti and paint over it with the appropriate color.

The group holds two main events each year — a spring and fall cleanup. It typically gets a turnout of about 75 volunteers.

The entire neighborhood is encouraged to volunteer and in past events more than 100 people have turned out.

Volunteers are typically split into groups, with each group responsible to clean up a particular section of the neighborhood. Each group will clean or paint over graffiti on walls, store gates and public fixtures.

SUNN supplies the paint and supplies; volunteers from the community supply the elbow grease.

 For further information, please call SUNN at 646-298-8669 or visit the website: http://sunnysideunited.com

Previous coverage:

http://sunnysidepost.com/category/community-groups/sunnyside-graffiti/

Police at the local 108 precinct know who is behind the tag. At a United Forties meeting in Woodside earlier this year, this reporter heard Officer Maro Youssef tell the audience that he knew who the person is who paints the “BAM” tag.

Yesterday, officer Youssef would not comment on what was being done to combat BAM’s latest spree. However, he said: “Thank you for letting us know that the tag is going up and we will take matters to address it.”

An excerpt from the original Sunnyside Post article read:

The perpetrator of some ugly graffiti at Sunnyside’s PS 150 has been arrested, according to police.

Daniel Wattenbarger, a 58-year-old male who lives on 41st Street, was arrested on March 23 for painting a message full of expletives on a wall adjacent to PS 150 — for all the students to read. He had been complaining to teachers at the school that the 6-to-10 year olds made too much noise during recess, police said. 

Mr. Wattenbarger’s response to the article on comments section

Daniel Wattenbarger says:

First, I am surprised at the attention. One would think that such attention would be paid before such a story is published. I have yet to hear from the reporter who wrote this story and yet my name has been plastered here for something I did not do and something that is not a crime. I cannot go into this further until the case is settled in court. For those who are concerned about the costs, realize that the you are paying for lawyers on both sides of the case.

Let’s however, discuss the issues. I will not indulge in the name-calling of your article though there are several things that could be attached to the practice of your journalism. Also I will not indulge in racist statements as have some of the posters. This is not a matter of race.

It is a matter of the rights of a citizen to not be harmed by the action of government.

To explain this statement. When I move here some 18 years ago. P.S. 150 had roughly half the classrooms it has now and about one-third of the number of students. There are by the statement of the principal some 1,400 children at this school about 500 of which are bused in from other neighborhoods where there are also publivc schools. In addition the playground, because of the building extension has been reduced to about half its former size.

(READ ON BELOW)

Let’s look at the problem this causes. The schoolyard has play area for roughly 100 students
at a time, thus it is necessary to have about 14 20 minute recess periods. If you do the math
you will find that what you suggest is a 20 minute recess lasts just short of 4 hours. On normal days this is between the hours of 10 am and 2 pm. On bad weather days it has been known to start as early as 8:15 am. I can get into my apartment, close all the windows, turn on the air conditioner play the steero loudly and still be overwhelmed by the noise from the playground. I am at the point of the building furthest from the playground.

Please understand that I am not against children playing and I am also not complaining about the children. Children do what they are taught. This makes it clearly the fault of the school administration that this problem exists. First, the plan of the school addition was at best faulty. Logically, theextension should have been built near our building as opposed to its present location. This would have created a multilevel playground bewteen the two building and contained the noise of the added students. It is of note that my building was not contacted for input into the plans. I know because I was president of the building when the extension was built.

Secondly, the school is already overcrowded without the addition of some 20 busloads of students. In addition to piling the extra students into the neighborhood they cause severe traffic jams when school starts or lets out. The school is overcrowded and this is not the fault of the children.

Thirdly, By the statement of the of the principal, the school commisioner of schools for the area and representatives from both the mayor’s office and Joel Klein’s office there are no attempts to control the situation that they have created. The attitude that they take is “We want them to scream on the playground, That way they scream less when they come inside the school” This statement has been repeated to me by several levels of the administration.

The students express it differently. I have overheard many of them say “It’s a playground, we can make as much noise as we want” As chiildren essentially repeat what they here I can only surmise that someone (parents, teachers etc.) has told them that. This is a radical change in the students thought patterns that corresponds with the assignment of a new principal to the school.

The busing and the overcrowding have been problem ever since the extension was built but the noise was never a problem until the the new principal arrived. This new principal has tried, for example, To line up the 1,400 children outside in the playground before school began at 7 am. This practice was only stopped by police action (I.E. even a school has a responsibility to keep the noise down before 9 am) . When I spoke to the principal she basically stated that it was beyond her control. When I suggested that she contact the former principal in regard to the methodology used. She called the police to say I was harrassing her. By her own statement I was never less than polite to her. the problem was that I said things that she disagreed with.

Ultimately this a problem that was caused by the action of government mismanagement and is further exacerbated by the the total disregard of citizens in the neighborhood by the people that we are paying to manage the situation. This was a problem that was managed well for years and now has “blossomed” under the force of new management. It is in short a problem that would not be a problem except for the arrogance of the principal and the mismanagement of the school planning board.

Essentially, the mismanagement has the effect of taking my tax money and using it to run me out of my apartment. The question I ask you is this. Does the government have the right to require me to pay taxes and then use that money in such an inappropriate manner as to make my home unlivable for several months of the year? I personally believe that they have a responsibility to protect my rights from there actions.

This is a far more interesting story than the one that you have written and one you could have written had you done could have written had you only bothered to do some basic research.
By the way the term for such biased reporting is “Yellow Journalism” . I am sure that you have no idea what I mean..

UPDATE: A spokesman for Councilman Van Bramer said his office has called the Dept. of Sanitation and has been assured that it is going to be cleaned up.

UPDATE (2): The graffiti has been removed.

Jimmy Van Bramer, who is the Democratic candidate for the District 26 council seat, continues to face the same thorny questions from voters that he heard during his hard-fought primary campaign.

“People want to know what can be done about graffiti and parking problems,” Van Bramer said. “They have questions about our parks and beautifying some of the space.”

Van Bramer, if elected, said he would try and combat graffiti on a grass roots level, consider introducing resident stickers for local residents and create further park space, which might include the creation of a Central Park-type space at Sunnyside Yards.

Van Bramer said he is a strong supporter of groups such as the Sunnyside United Neighborhood Network, which is made up of about 100 volunteers who clean up graffiti on the northern side of Queens Blvd.

“We must push for a comparable group on the southern side of Queens Blvd—perhaps through United Forties—or the creation of a whole new group. I’m going to be actively involved in this.”

The Democrat did say he was pleased by the council’s passage of a recent bill that would make it easier for the city to clean up graffiti. That bill, he said, if signed by the mayor, would allow the city to clean up graffiti after 50 days, unless the property owner expressly wants the graffiti to stay.

Another issue Sunnysiders want rectified is the” parking crunch,” he said.  Many non-residents drive to the neighborhood, park their cars and then take the No. 7 train into work. “It’s upsetting a lot of residents, so I will be taking a serious look to alleviate the parking problem.” One idea, he said, is to create a “resident parking sticker.”

Many Sunnyside residents want more park space. Van Bramer said he wants to expand the amount of park/green space in Sunnyside and District 26 as a whole.  He is considering turning vacant, undeveloped lots into community garden areas or small parks. He even suggested some empty lots on 43^rd Street (btwn, Skillman and 43^rd Ave.) that are worth considering.

But he does not plan to bring about change to Sunnyside’s existing parks in the short term–referring to Sunnyside’s Thomas P. Noonan Playground (Greenpoint and 47th Aves, 43rd) and the Lou Ladati Playground (Skillman Ave and 43rd St).  

He said he would review their current use–and potentially best use— in the long term. This also would include landscaping issues. For now, he just wants them to be better maintained.

Van Bramer’s Republican Rival

Van Bramer will be running against Angelo Maragos, a Republican who has the odds stacked against him in this Democratic city.  

Nevertheless, Maragos is very visible and active. A major issue that Maragos is running on is bringing rent rebates and low-interest loans to struggling businesses. He argues that many businesses in District 26—which includes Woodside, Astoria and Long Island city— are struggling.

Van Bramer agrees that the poor economy is taking a toll on local businesses. However, he said, rent rebates and low-interest loans are not the answer.  He said his focus will be on making it easier for businesses to get the permits they need expeditiously, and to protect them against excessive fines.

Van Bramer, who beat Democratic Party favorite Deirdre Feerick in the primary, is now readying himself for Maragos. He said, “I take all of my opponents seriously and will continue to talk to voters just as I did in the primary.”