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THE SUNNYSIDE SOUND PROJECT
Tony Rohling next to a mailbox, one of many targets of vandals
Awaiting clean-up: The Mosque on Skillman Avenue
TONY ROHLING:
“The solution is to clean up graffiti as soon as it appears”
Researching
methods to create a graffiti-free Sunnyside, Tony Rohling and the
members of his court association in Sunnyside Gardens came across a
successful Australian model.
“The solution for graffiti isn’t putting a police car on every corner 24/7,” Tony explains. “The solution is to clean up graffiti as soon as it appears. Once the vandals realize that their work isn’t tolerated in this community, they won’t do it anymore.”
The group’s first collaborative graffiti clean-up event eight years ago was an instant success. More than 40 people showed up, cleaning far more than the anticipated two blocks on Skillman Avenue.
The nonprofit organization Sunnyside United was born and began collaborating with the local police department, businesses, religious organizations, government officials, merchants and the mayor’s anti-graffiti taskforce. Today Sunnyside United welcomes between 75 and 100 volunteers to each of their biannual clean-up events, in which 40 neighborhood blocks are cleaned.
“But the follow-up work is just as important,” says Tony. That’s why he recruits residents and merchants to maintain lampposts, store gates and walls, providing them with brushes, paint and chemicals, and visits local schools to educate students.
The next clean-up event is on May 15, 2010 at 10:00 AM. Volunteers will meet in front of the Sunnyside Reformed Church on Skillman Avenue and 48th Street.
In the podcast, Tony talks about society’s mixed message regarding graffiti, his clean-up methods, the Australian model his group reproduced and the many ways to get involved.
“The solution for graffiti isn’t putting a police car on every corner 24/7,” Tony explains. “The solution is to clean up graffiti as soon as it appears. Once the vandals realize that their work isn’t tolerated in this community, they won’t do it anymore.”
The group’s first collaborative graffiti clean-up event eight years ago was an instant success. More than 40 people showed up, cleaning far more than the anticipated two blocks on Skillman Avenue.
The nonprofit organization Sunnyside United was born and began collaborating with the local police department, businesses, religious organizations, government officials, merchants and the mayor’s anti-graffiti taskforce. Today Sunnyside United welcomes between 75 and 100 volunteers to each of their biannual clean-up events, in which 40 neighborhood blocks are cleaned.
“But the follow-up work is just as important,” says Tony. That’s why he recruits residents and merchants to maintain lampposts, store gates and walls, providing them with brushes, paint and chemicals, and visits local schools to educate students.
The next clean-up event is on May 15, 2010 at 10:00 AM. Volunteers will meet in front of the Sunnyside Reformed Church on Skillman Avenue and 48th Street.
In the podcast, Tony talks about society’s mixed message regarding graffiti, his clean-up methods, the Australian model his group reproduced and the many ways to get involved.
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