Saturday, December 31, 2005

City council graffiti markdown:

Young taggers, consider yourself warned. It's now illegal in New York City for anyone under 21 to carry a single can of spray paint -- or even a wide marker -- on city streets.

"The police love this bill," said Council member Peter Vallone Jr. of Queens, who sponsored the new law that Mayor Bloomberg signed into law Thursday. "All the cops have to do is see a youth with a can of spray paint and they can arrest him right there."

The law was decried as "overreaching" by the New York Civil Liberties Union, and a library group wondered whether librarians would have to start wresting markers from the hands of kids.

"People need to realize that a 19-year-old has no business walking around New York City with a can of spray paint," Vallone said.