This is why we can’t have nice things.
Not a year after Tony Rosenthal’s “Alamo” got a $180,000 renovation, the famed Astor Place cube has been marred by scribbles.
We’d call it graffiti, but Terri Howell, director of operations at Village Alliance, begs to differ. “It’s basically childish vandalism. That’s not graffiti,” she said. Childish indeed– look closely and you’ll see Pac Man in there.
The Village Alliance took notice of the vandalism first thing this morning and reported it to the 9th Precinct. A crew has already removed spray paint from two sides of the cube, but as of this writing, some remained on the top side– a “much more challenging angle”– because they needed a bigger ladder.
Howell said the incident must’ve happened after midnight, when their cleaning crew finished for the night. While it’s definitely a hassle to remove, the keepers of the cube have seen a decrease in vandalism. “This is only the third or fourth time it’s been tagged this year,” Howell said. “It used to get tagged once or twice a week.”
Ah yes, but sweater weather is approaching…