By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
EAST VILLAGE — A nearly decade-old mural that was recently painted over in an increased effort to wipe out vandalism has been replaced with scrawls of graffiti.
The tableau, which stretched for more than 50 feet along the wall of a supermarket on East 5th St. at Avenue D, depicted a man carrying a Puerto Rican flag, the portrait of a woman, and three colorful tags with large angular letters by the graffiti writers who produced the work.
On April 1, a cleanup crew began covering the longstanding mural in paint, AOL News reported — a move encouraged by the city’s revised anti-graffiti program, which no longer requires an owner’s consent to clean vandalized properties.
Only days later, though, taggers took to the freshly scrubbed wall and covered it with a series of spray-painted scribbles.
“I believe if I paint [over] it tomorrow, they’ll [tag] it again,” said Johnny Lora, owner the Lora Deli and Supermarket, who took over the store five years ago after the mural had gone up.
He explained that the city compelled him to paint over the 2001 mural, essentially creating a blank canvas for vandals.
However, a spokesperson with the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit, which runs the anti-graffiti program, said the building could have chosen to preserve the piece, which essentially remained untouched by new tags over the years.
According to the spokesperson, someone reported the mural to 311 back in February, and a letter was sent to Lora informing him he had the option to clean it himself, let the city clean it for free, or simply let it remain on the wall.
But Lora claimed he didn’t know he had the option to keep it, and that he spent $500 to paint over the mural.
“The city sent me a letter that I had 45 days to clean it up, and I did,” he said.
Lora now expects the building to be an inviting target for freelance taggers, especially if he decides to paint over the newest graffiti that has landed there.
“As soon as they see new paint there,” he said, “they’re going to continue to do the same thing.”
