Lynn plans to address rash of graffiti

LYNN – Peter Abbruzzese said the graffiti vandal or vandals who spray painted large blue letters on the side of his Alley Street real estate business three weeks ago saddled him with an annoyance already felt by other businesses located off the Lynnway.”It’s an expense,” said Abbruzzese as he contemplated the cost of painting over the lettering or paying to have it scrubbed away.Ward 6 City Councilor Peter Capano said 27 businesses in the area roughly defined by the Lynnway, Alley Street and Shepard Street have graffiti on their walls – much of it recent.”It’s noticeable along half of Bennett Street and it’s spreading,” Capano said this week.More than a dozen “tags” or graffiti scrawls cover a block-long length of masonry wall on Alley Street where now-closed Lynn Lumber is located. Peter Hobson’s fire extinguisher business faces the wall and he said the graffiti cropped up fairly recently.”It’s an eyesore,” he said.Police officers and city Public Works officials agree and they met Tuesday with Capano to talk about ways to help local businesses remove graffiti and catch the individual or individuals responsible for spreading it.Acting Public Works Commissioner Lisa Nerich said Public Works employees will begin removing graffiti in about two weeks with a machine resembling a giant power wash. She said the machine is capable of stripping graffiti from stone surfaces.Summer youth workers are preparing to paint fire hydrants and utility boxes across the city, and Community Development and youth worker John Kasian said the teen painters might “make a dent” in painting over graffiti-covered walls and other surfaces.Antonio Gutierrez talks to local teenagers he encounters through Lynn Youth Street Outreach Advocacy and said conversations could pinpoint who is responsible for the West Lynn graffiti.”One of these kids is going to talk,” he said this week.Police Chief Kevin Coppinger said local businesses can assist police in catching anyone responsible for the graffiti by providing police with security camera videotape and digitally recorded images.”All we need is a face,” he said.Coppinger said graffiti is a factor in what he called the “broken window theory” of poorly maintained properties detracting from efforts to make streets and neighborhoods more secure.”The key is getting graffiti removed as soon as possible,” he said.Abbruzzese said the large, balloon-like letters scrawled on the side of Fast Track realty group’s office also showed up on buildings in Beverly. He is prepared to pay graffiti removal costs for his building and hopes police catch the vandal or vandals.”I hear the law is strict enough to send people to jail,” he said.Thor Jourgensen can be reached at [email protected].