Cleaning up our community here

To the editor:

I am disturbed to see the increasing graffiti around Riverdale.

Each day, more mail, fire alarm, water sampling, and electrical connection boxes, lamp posts, street signs, parking lots, privately owned and rented commercial spaces and institutions are being defiled with graffiti.

At the same time, I am noticing rubbish accumulating in front of stores and homes, tossed onto sidewalks and into the streets. 

If we want our community to be an attractive, pleasant place to live in, it is time to take action. I call upon all homeowners, businesses, and local institutions to take initiative and regularly collect any trash from in front of your property/curb line/sidewalk and swiftly eradicate any graffiti. 

All concerned residents are requested to report graffiti appearing on municipal property to Councilman Eric Dinowitz’s office. I have been assured that his office will soon be sending out a graffiti cleanup team as the spring approaches.

We are asked to provide specific addresses and detailed locations and descriptions of the graffiti.

Municipal graffiti can also be reported to 311. Dinowitz’s office can then follow up on the complaint number.

If all concerned residents, institutions and businesses work together, we can restore the visual civility of our neighborhood, before it becomes a big ugly garbage dump like some of the New York City neighborhoods where no one cares or bothers anymore. 

There is no time to lose.

Alisa Eilenberg