State Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder shows off the cheap Kidfitti stencil kit, which he and community leaders argue glorifies the use of graffiti. Photos by Phil Corso
A southern Queens lawmaker is calling out a national toy chain after spotting a kid-friendly graffiti starter kit on the shelves.
State Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder (D-Rockaway Park) chalked up “Kidfitti” as a potential slippery slope for city kids experimenting with graffiti stencils and fired off a letter to Toys “R” Us and other retails calling for the product’s removal.
Toys “R” Us did not comment.
“This product is using marketing ploys to encourage unsuspecting children to deface their communities,” Goldfeder said. “We should be educating our children to keep our community clean, not providing them the tools to potentially deface it.”
The assemblyman held up examples of the stencils wrapped in plastic with the colorful backdrop of the Hawtree Basin Bridge of Hamilton Beach behind him, littered in graffiti just weeks after being painted over. The bridge has been a constant eyesore for members of the southern Queens community, who have too often relied on volunteers and the 106th Precinct auxiliary program to consistently repaint the bridge’s surface.
The Hamilton Beach bridge is covered in graffiti just weeks after volunteers had it painted over. Photo by Phil Corso
The bridge, covered in different graffiti tags and etchings, was also surrounded by litter and debris that washes up from high tide of the nearby waterfront. Members of the community said the entire area was a known eyesore and a detriment to the surrounding homeowners.
“It is a never-ending battle. They’re constantly down here,” said Roger Gendron, president of the Hamilton Beach Civic. “As much as we try, this bridge is not cared for.”
Gendron said the ongoing blight of graffiti brought down property values in his beloved community and called on the community to be diligent in phoning 311 whenever a tag is spotted. But beyond that, the civic leader said to see toy stores marketing pseudo starter kits for young graffiti vandals was only bad news for communities like his.
Kidfitti graffiti stencils were seen on the shelves of several major toy retailers, including Toys “R” Us throughout the city, Goldfeder said. The packages were on sale for less than $1 on the day of Goldfeder’s announcement Monday and the assemblyman had his staff deliver some stencils to his press conference in Hamilton Beach.
Its stencils included anything from designs of chains to skulls for children 6-year-old and older to etch onto pavement in chalk. But the assemblyman argued that disclaimers on the packaging were not enough to convince young kids not to deface public pavement.
In his letter to Toys “R” Us CEO Antonio Urcelay, Goldfeder asked that Kidfitti be cleared from the shelves permanently. He also called out the Department of Consumer Affairs and asked for more pressure on city retailers not to market such products.
“Graffiti vandalism is a gateway crime that not only affects the quality of life, but could lead to more serious offenses,” he said. “We must take a proactive approach to educate our kids and beautify our neighborhoods.”
By Phil Corso
