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Nosy Neighbor: Can we get the graffiti cleaned up on the post office?
M. wrote in mid September: “Is there any way to report on or shame the USPS into cleaning up the front of the post office on Canal and Church?”
When she sent the note, I had already contacted the USPS’ press office for New York City and New Jersey; in the past they have been very responsive. My note went unanswered, but then last week M. sent word that the graffiti is gone. Photo above from Sept. 13; photos below from Oct. 1. So, yay.
The post office is a real target for graffiti — I am guessing it’s a consequence of its location on Canal and the smooth dark expanse of terracotta tiles. (The graffiti was especially bad in 2020.)
It is not in fact a local landmark, however it is on the National Register of Historic Places for its unusual and unique Art Moderne style. The entire facade is terracotta tiles — both the buff color above and the black at the base — and the entrance stairs are black granite. (I never knew that was called a chamfered corner.) The interior walls are also terracotta, with terrazzo floors and a relief panel by the sculptor Wheeler Williams, who sounds like he was an enthusiastic supporter of Joseph McCarthy.
That aside, the building made the historic register for its imposing and dramatic structure and siting, and in its 1988 nomination, the National Park Service called it one of the most important post offices in New York City. It was built between 1937 and 1939 as a WPA project, designed by Alan Balch Mills.
Some recent Nosy Neighbor posts:
- What are pineapples doing on the Westside Highway?
- Why are so many vendors allowed on the Brooklyn Bridge?
- Is Mr. Exotix allowed to flash all night?
- Just how many lanes are on Greenwich?
- Update: 101 Franklin / 250 Church has sold
- When will the Citi Bike stations be re-installed?
- What’s doing on the Westside Highway?
- Why was the Warren Street path through City Hall Park closed?
- Why are there horses at Duane Park?
- When will the Rockefeller playground open?
- Just how many lanes are on Greenwich?
- What happened to the street lamps on Reade?
- What will replace the footings of the Rector Street Bridge?
- Could this be a piece of the Old Stone Bridge?
- Are dogs allowed in Liberty Park?
- Will the sun come out on the Sun Building clocks?
- What’s this on the side of Pier 40?
12 Comments
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How about catching these graffiti criminals and throwing the book at them so no one does this anymore?
Glad to see it gone. I had also reported it via 311. The area around the post office is also always filthy with litter and used as a public bathroom. Would be great to have the trees planted in those areas where there were once trees.
As for graffiti, cleaning it repeatedly is costly, and this cost is carried by our taxes (in the case of public buildings) or owners of buildings. Instead, the vandals should be required to clean up graffiti in the city as part of their sentencing.
It’s become a blight all over the world; even the world’s most beautiful buildings and structures get hit with this vandalism. Could we just ban spray paint cannisters? Civilization functioned just fine (well, relatively speaking; civilization has never been totally civilized) without them for millennia.
The city actually has a free program where they will remove graffiti if requested.
https://www.nyc.gov/site/dsny/what-we-do/cleaning/graffiti.page
There is no such thing as a “free” government program. We the taxpayers are paying for the damage done by these criminals.
Exactly. Not free; it just puts the burden on taxpayers.
Similarly, those who justify fare evasion with “Public transit should be free anyway”…Again, that’s asking taxpayers to pay for it (which may be the right solution; I don’t know; but don’t pretend that it’s “free”; it just shuffles the source and path of the payment).
How about cleaning up the open air drug market that has popped up on the corner of Church and Canal? The counterfeit purse sellers have expanded their business and there are now small tables set up with jars of loose week. It’s absolutely vile.
Since the reporting of the closing of Canal Smoke Shop it has reopened and the encampment of African vendors has resumed and lively as ever. It’s very puzzling how the city is dealing with this problem, the entire area around Canal Street is occupied by the Chinese and African counterfeit goods vendors with the show raid from time to time, the fact they now left the west side of Broadway alone indicates there was some deal with the city, but with whom?
Graffiti is the least of our problems. Neglect attracts bad behavior. This is part of a much larger problem which can be a time bomb before something really bad happens.
Did you report it? Report it again and it gets back on the radar….old school – see something and say something
I do report it on 311, repeatedly. Does it do any good?
Yes. The Community Board uses the reports as evidence when they take a complaint directly to an agency head.
Another beautiful and unique building in Tribeca that deserves NYC landmark status…
Now if they only cleaned up all the sidewalk garbage……