NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
SUNDAY, JANUARY 12, 2014, 7:36 PM
Vandals left this spray-paint taunt on a No. 6 train in the Bronx. 'They’re like cockroaches,' one transit source said. 'If you don’t keep on top of them, they come right back.'
Graffiti vandals have been on a rampage — painting murals and boastful tags on the outside of two dozen subway cars since New Year’s Day.
The spray-paint menaces carried out at least nine sneak attacks in the first 11 days of the year — sometimes returning to the same spot on consecutive days, sources said.
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One tagger even taunted authorities for an apparent lack of vigilance, scrawling “MTA You are slacken” on the exterior of a subway car that was parked overnight in the Bronx.
“They’re like cockroaches,” one transit source said. “If you don’t keep on top of them, they come right back.”
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And these pests eat up a lot of taxpayer money.
FRANCES ROBERTS FOR NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
An MTA rail yard at 207th St. During winter storms, trains are moved to underground 'layup' areas for the night, which presents an opportunity to enterprising vandals.
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority on average spends about $1 million a year to remove graffiti from its stainless steel subway trains, spokesman Kevin Ortiz said.
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It’s no coincidence that the spree took place when it did. The first half of January featured a major snowstorm, dangerously low temperatures, and several days when sheets of ice covered both the roads and rails.
When weather like that heads our way, the MTA moves many of its subway cars to underground “layup” areas for the night. That prevents them from getting snowed in while parked at outdoor rail yards.
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But it also presents an opportunity to enterprising vandals.
The yards, which are guarded by MTA security, are well lit and ringed with barbed wire.
A photo of spray paint can and marker released by the New York City Transit Bureau, which arrested two suspects Saturday morning at the 111th St. station, where cars parked nearby had been spray-painted for the third time in three days.
The layup areas, which are policed by the NYPD, are inside the much more porous subway system. During weather emergencies, the MTA parks many of its idle trains on unused middle express tracks in the dark tunnels between stations. It also uses some middle express tracks on elevated sections on the outer fringes of lines.
All of the 2014 murals were painted in layups, sources said.
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The spree started in the Bronx sometime before dawn on Friday, Jan. 3. Vandals hit the underground layup at E. 143rd St. By the time they left undetected, the sides of seven cars on a No. 6 line train were covered with murals. Vandals struck the same parking area the next day, Saturday, and again on Sunday.
Over the next week, murals were discovered near 135th St. on the A line in Manhattan, Utica Ave. on the No. 4 line in Brooklyn, Dyre Ave. on the No. 5 line in the Bronx and 111th St. on the J line, Queens.
The police finally caught up with and arrested two vandals early Saturday morning at the 111th St. station, where cars parked nearby — for the third time in three days — had just been spray-painted.