By:Nick Buglione
Linda Cambi, whose husband, Richard, owns G.F. Auto Repair, was in the area Sunday, May 2, when she saw graffiti scrawled across the shop as well as on the Acme Window Treatments and High-Tech Sign companies across the street.
Her husband's business, however, got the worst of it, with vandals spray-painting illegibly across the shop's three large bay doors, a nearby fence and even a truck parked on the property, Cambi said.
While the vandalism angered her, she was also alarmed that it might be a sign of something far worse -- gang activity. "It scares the hell out of me," said Cambi, whose family also lives in East Meadow. "It's very disturbing that that kind of thing is happening in my town."
She noted that her high-school daughter has noticed some students wearing gang colors, fueling her concern. "It's something that is moving into our area, and people don't realize it," Cambi said.
Although graffiti may indicate a gang presence, most of East Meadow's graffiti seems to be motivated simply by the desire for recognition, said Hempstead Town Councilman Gary Hudes, a Republican from Levittown who has headed up the county's Graffiti Task Force for the past eight years.
"We have not seen any great degree of gang graffiti," Hudes said, noting that he would look into whether the graffiti on East Meadow and Prospect avenues could be attributed to gangs. "The graffiti is all about recognition. The graffiti vandal wants to see their name on that wall or sign."
Still, gang activity has become a real concern for East Meadow residents and civic leaders. Nassau County Legislator Norma Gonsalves, a Republican from East Meadow, was set to hold a seminar on gangs on Tuesday, after the Herald went to press.
"They're coming in, and people have to be made aware," said Helen Meittinis, president of the Community Association of Stewart Avenue. While East Meadow doesn't necessarily have a gang problem, it borders neighborhoods that do, namely Uniondale and New Castle, Meittinis said. It behooves parents to learn about gangs and how to identify potential gang activity among their children, she said.
Meanwhile, Hudes encouraged the vandalized businesses to clean the graffiti as soon as possible. "Graffiti begets graffiti," he said. "The longer you leave it, the more you will get."
Since the onset of warm weather, Hudes said, there has been a noticeable increase in graffiti around the county. "It's one of the toughest crimes to catch," he said. "It's something that happens in a matter of seconds."
The vandals usually work in teams, or "tagging crews," in which some act as lookouts while others spray the graffiti, Hudes said. They work primarily at night and create simple tags -- their identifying names or marks -- in often hard-to-reach places.
Though the vandals are often teenagers, Hudes said that some continue to do graffiti into their 20s and 30s. "We encourage people, whenever they seen anything suspicious, to call the police," he said.
