Council Member Robert Holden outside the house on 63rd Street in Woodside that was targeted with graffiti Tuesday night (Photo: Robert Holden via Twitter @BobHoldenNYC)
May 21, 2021 By Michael Dorgan
The home of a Woodside senior was spray-painted with the “anarchy” symbol Tuesday night and the tires of a nearby vehicle were slashed.
In another incident on Wednesday night, nearly 20 vehicles in Astoria were targeted with a similar type of graffiti. It is unclear if both incidents are related, police said.
The vandalism in Woodside took place on 63rd Street. The owner informed Council Member Bob Holden of the crimes who subsequently told police.
Holden and members of the NYPD visited the scene and the lawmaker posted images of the destructive scrawl to Twitter.
The front garden wall of the building was spray-painted three times with a capital letter “A” inside a circle. The pattern symbolizes anarchy.
The building’s façade was hit four times with the symbol. The vandal used white spray paint.
All four tires on a 2013 Hyundai Elantra were also slashed Tuesday night. It was also spray-painted with the anarchy symbol. The car was parked around the corner from the house on 64th Street.
“These people are serious about intimidation and they obviously have some hate for that person,” said Holden, who condemned the attack.
“We’ve got to catch them because they might come back and do it again.”
Holden believes the vehicle and the house were mistakenly hit. He said the suspects are targeting the owner of a red Hyundai living in the neighborhood.
He said that around two weeks ago a similar-looking car parked in the area had four of its tires slashed. It was also spray-painted with the anarchy symbol, he said.
Holden believes the suspects came back on Tuesday night and vandalized the senior’s house thinking their target lives there.
“They are causing thousands of dollars worth of damage,” said Holden, who emphasized that the NYPD is taking the matter very seriously.
“We think they will be caught because there are a lot of cameras around the house and in the area where the car was targeted,” he said.
Holden said he called on members of the non-profit Ace New York to clean up the graffiti. The organization provides work and job experience to homeless people and former inmates.
However, Holden said the two car owners will have to cover the cost of paying for new tires.
When my staff and I were notified of a disturbing incident of vandalism, in which both a house and car were defiled in Woodside, we called the @NYPD and met them at the scene. The house and car were spray painted with anarchism symbols and the tires of the car were slashed. pic.twitter.com/ZN4k7gqFCk
— Robert Holden (@BobHoldenNYC) May 20, 2021
The NYPD said it is also investigating an incident in Astoria Wednesday night where 19 vehicles were targeted with spray paint.
The vehicles were parked along 33rd Street between Ditmars Boulevard and 23rd Avenue and had either the “anarchy” symbol or the letter “A” sprayed painted across them, police said.
A mix of white and red-colored spray paint was used in the incident
The NYPD said it is looking into the possibility that the incidents on Tuesday night and Wednesday night are related.
A vehicle parked on 33rd Street between Ditmars and 23rd Avenue was vandalized (Michael Dorgan, Queens Post)
Some of the vehicles parked on 33rd Street between Ditmars and 23rd Avenue that were vandalized (Michael Dorgan, Queens Post)
Vehicles parked on 33rd Street between Ditmars and 23rd Avenue that were vandalized (Michael Dorgan, Queens Post)
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22 Comments
JVB is a busy man! He’s campaigning, of course, for the next position he hopes to hold. This one will cause turmoil + chaos for ALL of Queens because Jimmy will put himself first and not the people he is supposed to represent. We all know who to NOT vote for in that position.
Convenient that deBlasio, presidential pipe dreamer and 2019 abandoner of NYC long before Covid hit NYC, decided to canceled a graffiti-eradication program last summer. Can’t he do anything right?!
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No. He can’t.
Nice of Holden to address the issue right away. In Astoria the people were on their own cleaning up the graffiti. I am surprised that no one had security video of the suspect(s).
luckily nobody has high rez cameras, so the criminal will get away with it. oh wait…
Western Queens is full of graffiti. Some view it as Art and have graffiti tours for tourists and transplants that pay to see it with a guide.
but we all understand that this here is vandalism, right?
Hey AOC what are you going to do about all the crime that’s going in ur district … crime is so bad n every day it’s getting worse all over new york n the media doesn’t show all the facts or crimes….
That’s something for local government to address.
How is dis a crime? Its jst graffiti…
You did it.
A for America.
maybe someone was grading on how they are parking.
My sister lives in Astoria. Things like this are one of the many reasons I am reluctant to visit her. Traffic is chaotic, people are rude, it’s loud and overcrowded. My sister tells me quality of life goes down hill each year. She is looking to move and rent her home. There are many homeless people in the ditmars area. Did the council person in Astoria comment? Or do they only comment if a victim says it was a hate crime.
Astoria is no longer safe. I work at a shop that was broken into on Thanksgiving morning at 4am. And a week or two ago some crazy lady ran her Mercedes into a outdoor dining area, destroying the whole thing and ended up killing a delivery guy right outside the shop too. What is going on here?
This vandalism is totally unacceptable. And to target a senior is disgusting.
Since they have no cameras catching who did it she’s probably only known by her neighbors.
This happens every day in Sunnyside, Astoria, LIC. Our mayor and political leaders continue to ignore this after more than a year. 43rd St. (JVB’s district) is a disaster with garbage, graffiti, homeless. On rare occasions when it’s cleaned up it comes back immediately and at the tax payers expense. Mainly it’s because they know there is no penalty for being caught. Except for a pair of baseball tickets for showing up at court.
Disgusting: Hey, DeBlasio, are you paying attention?
He only pays attention to the anti voters.
where is Mr. JVB on this — he is a disgrace
Holden is the only member of the city council who’s not insane.
The best of the best at the moment!