Taggers Hit Nicolls Road Train Trestle – Again

Graffiti has popped up on the train trestle over Nicolls Road just south of Route 25A in Stony Brook for at least the fourth time in the span of about a year.

Whereas recent instances of graffiti seemed to convey a message – for example, "less yah sweat, more yah get" – this instance appears to be the specific tag of one or more graffiti "artists."

"This is the more common type that we deal with," said Lieutenant Michael S. Murphy of the Sixth Precinct crime section. "Train trestles are notorious for this on Long Island out into New York City."

At the top level of the trestle on the east side of the road, which Murphy estimates is at least 15 feet high, light blue tags can be seen scrawled over a recently painted segment of the trestle. On the lower level, vandals spray painted other tags in black and blue paint.

Vandals hit the Nicolls Road trestle in and , with at least one other incident in between. Trestles above Gnarled Hollow Road and Bennetts Road have also been the recent targets of graffiti artists.

According to Murphy, the more difficult a location is for a tagger to reach, the more prestige the graffiti holds among that person's peers. But the quicker the graffiti gets removed, the less likely it is that the vandals will strike again, Murphy said.

The Long Island Rail Road is responsible for the cleanup of the graffiti. A new Town of Brookhaven ordinance requiring businesses to clean up graffiti within five days of its appearance may not apply in this case because the LIRR's parent agency, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is a government agency.

"The LIRR is putting an effort in with the knowledge that ... if you keep on it, it doesn't get to the point where you can't address it," he said.

It is unknown whether there is a timetable for cleanup in this case, but the LIRR said in a statement the railroad will continue to work with the community to address the problem.

"The Long Island Rail Road is disappointed at this latest act of vandalism at the Nicolls Road Bridge, which we and the local community have worked hard to keep graffiti free," said LIRR spokesman Salvatore Arena.

The Civic Association of the Setaukets and Stony Brook has also recently had a hand in trying to solve the problem. In January, the organization's leadership suggested a community partnership to address graffiti in the area. President Ron DiBiase said the Sixth Precinct, MTA police, and Stony Brook University police have been working together to patrol the area more so than in the past.

"It's an eyesore. It really is," DiBiase said. "It takes away from the beauty of the community."

Ultimately, he said, the civic association hopes to see the graffiti cleaned up, as well as circulate educational materials about preventing graffiti.

"The LIRR only has a finite budget," he said. "Calling them again and again and again, they might say 'we can't get to it for a few months.' We could paint the trestles or the abutments, but the insurance is cost prohibitive for us to be able to do it ourselves."