MTA LIRR partnering with NYC Community Cleanup to remove graffiti

A non-profit community group that has earned accolades for efforts to keep New York City clean is sending work crews out to help MTA Long Island Rail Road undo the unsightly work of graffiti vandals scarring LIRR bridges, most in Greater Jamaica. The LIRR is partnering in the pilot program with NYC Community Cleanup, an organization that targets litter and vandalism by deploying non-violent offenders doing community service time. NYC Community Cleanup is a creation of the Center for Court Innovation in partnership with the state Office of Court Administration, the Office of the Mayor's Criminal Justice Coordinator and the Queens District Attorney and it develops innovative approaches to public safety problems.

NYC Community
Cleanup crews are tackling graffiti on the street level, concrete abutments of
the 195th St. Bridge in Hollis, Queens. In recent weeks, the group has painted
over graffiti at nine other LIRR bridges, most in the Greater Jamaica area.

At each site, the LIRR
provides supervision while workers from NYC Community Cleanup provide the elbow
grease. The group also works to keep each site graffiti-free by responding
quickly to paint over any new tagging by vandals.

NYC Community Cleanup is
supported by criminal justice funds under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009. The group employs supervisors to direct work crews
comprised of low-level offenders sentenced by judges to community service for
non-violent offenses. In addition to outdoor painting, clearing garbage-strewn
lots, littered streets and sidewalks, the group’s services include indoor
services such as mopping, vacuuming, painting, furniture polishing, window
washing, floor waxing and floor buffing.

Work crews are highly
visible. Participants wear special vests and jump suits and display special
signage advertising that they are part of NYC Community Cleanup. 

All NYC
Community Cleanup participants are offered links to social services – drug
treatment, job training, and counseling. Any individual who does not complete
community service as ordered is referred back to court for re-sentencing.

In another story, one of
the most popular destinations in New York City – Grand Central Terminal – now
has an official, self-guided audio tour available in English, Spanish and
French.  Japanese, German and Italian will be added early next year. MTA
Metro-North Railroad, which operates the Terminal, has teamed up with Orpheo
USA, one of the world’s most experienced producers of audio tours, to give
tourists, travelers and locals alike a history of the terminal filled with
interesting details and insights.

The Orpheo Group has
equipped famous sites all over the world including several renowned New York
sites such as the Empire State Building, the U.S.S. Intrepid and the Museum of
the City of New York. Other famous venues are the Great Wall of China, the
Prado Museum in Madrid, the Kremlin in Moscow, the Acropolis Museum in Athens,
and Monaco Palace among others.


Orpheo’s state-of-the-art
audio device and headset comes with a map of the terminal for just $5 for
adults, with discounts for seniors and the disabled at $4 and students at $3. The
tour also has an introduction by New York City’s own mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

The tour focuses not only
on the architectural highlights of the Terminal but provides a real story about
little known secrets, anecdotes, archival material and the History of the
Terminal, with a capital H. Visitors will not see Grand Central with the
same eyes after taking the tour.

In the coming months, the
tour may be complemented by a visual component offering additional highlights
of the Terminal’s history, renovation, special events and clips from movies
filmed there over the years.