In today’s Springfield Republican, an article and photos appear regarding graffiti at a recently-renovated, cement-block former pool house at 310 Plainfield Street, near the Brightwood Health Center. Reporter Mary Ellen Lowney notes that the vandalism there is being called "the worst case of graffiti in memory."
The building at Kenefick Park, owned by the city, is called the Senior Center/Community Room and offers social opportunities for elders. Since October, thanks to a federally-funded rehab grant gained through the work of State Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera, Mayor Charles Ryan, as well as the renovation work of the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department, the Spanish American Union has been operating its programming for elders at the location (Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, 9:00 am to 1:00 pm). According to Executive Director Robert Bailey, the most popular activity there is dominoes, but a group also recently went to New York City to watch the play La Gringa.
Volunteers are needed between 8:30 and 9:00 tomorrow morning (note: not as late as 9:30 as the published article reports) to help re-paint the vandalized exterior in preparation for a holiday party at the spot, Thursday December 21, 10:00 am to 2:00 pm—a first annual Christmas celebration put together by the Spanish American Union and the Riverview Senior Center.
Maybe the vandals didn’t get the memo about the formerly-vacant building. It’s not really available for graffiti anymore. Or was it that they didn’t like the fresh coats of paint?
Folks in the city know how common graffiti is here, but what’s not so common is the well-deserved attention to the volunteer efforts of resident Orlando Santiago and his son, who have been using a power washer to eliminate graffiti as it appears. According to Lowney’s story, Santiago attempted to use the washer on the cement-block structure, but had to stop because its chemicals were too strong for the surface. Instead, the article says that volunteers are needed to repaint.
The city is making available to residents the ability to notify Michael Cass online as an aspect the Springfield graffiti remediation project he directs. Springfield’s graffiti ordinances are also available for browsing, in case anyone wondered if the city encourages taggers.
Earlier this fall, I used the site to notify Cass about silver-pen tags that had appeared on a few stop signs in my neighborhood. Cass emailed me back in a friendly fashion, thanked me for the notification, said he’d get right on it, and lo and behold, he did.
