Paint covers graffiti in uptown subway tunnel
The city has painted over a graffiti-covered tunnel at a Washington Heights subway station.
In apparent response to a recent Daily News story, the city Department of Transportation sent a work crew over the weekend to paint over the 900-foot pedestrian tunnel leading to Broadway from the platforms at the W. 191st St. station on the No. 1 line.
DOT, which owns and manages the tunnel, said in a statement that work at the tunnel is far from over.
“We value the importance of public art and this cleaning is the first step towards creating a new art project for the tunnel,” the statement said.
“We look forward to working closely with the community and local elected officials on a project that celebrates the culture and diversity that makes New York so special.”
On Monday, DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez referred to the paint job as “primer” — in other words only the first coat — and said the agency is in the process of hiring local artists to work on a new mural.
“The tunnel is widely known as a symbolic figure for the people who make up this community,” he said. “This is a priority for me because I understand the symbolic meaning behind this mural.”
The News on Tuesday reported that many residents have complained the tunnel had become a trash-filled gathering spot for addicts to shoot up drugs.
A Transportation Department plan to clean up the tunnel in 2015 by hiring artists to paint colorful murals on its wall fizzled, with graffiti soon covering the murals.
“The tunnel over the years was
destroyed by vandalism,” Rodriguez said.
But not everyone dislikes the graffiti. It’s been featured in street art tours, as well as Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical “In the Heights.”
“I think it gives the place character,” said Leslie Rodriguez, 40.
“I like it. It’s not on the trains themselves, not on the platform. It’s a localized little place.”