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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio came under fire for his swift reaction to vandalism of the Black Lives Matter mural recently painted in front of Trump Tower.
Soon after it was discovered that red paint had been splattered over part of the lettering along Fifth Avenue, the Democrat mayor dispatched a sizable crew of Department of Transportation workers to quickly repair the damage. He also called out “whoever vandalized” the mural in a tweet boasting about how quickly it was fixed.
Ok but what about all the vandalism of our city. Who did that? @MorningsMaria @FoxBusiness https://t.co/gSSVrWxEYD
— Maria Bartiromo (@MariaBartiromo) July 13, 2020
“The #BlackLivesMatter movement is more than words, and it can’t be undone,” de Blasio wrote within hours of the incident, certainly moving faster to condemn and react to the act than he has to violence plaguing the city under his watch.
“Ok but what about all the vandalism of our city. Who did that?” Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, one of many voices slamming the mayor, asked in a tweet reacting to his message.
Video showed the moment Monday when a mask-wearing man dumped a can of red paint over a small portion of the yellow “Black Lives Matter” lettering that was painted last week with much fanfare as de Blasio joined Al Sharpton and others to deface the stretch of Manhattan street to make a statement.
Black Lives Matter mural outside Trump Tower is vandalised with red paint pic.twitter.com/Rltz5Kr9vk
— The Sun (@TheSun) July 14, 2020
“I just couldn’t believe he did it in front of me and another person. It was clear we were videotaping and he just didn’t care,” Nikki Rospond, another woman who caught the incident on video, told NBC News New York. “Thankfully this was just paint and nothing violent.”
Here’s the guy who dumped red paint on the Black Lives Matter mural in front of Trump Tower #nbc4ny https://t.co/MGZ1MBpHvM (📹Nikki Rospond) pic.twitter.com/5hfabWf5pd
— Steven Bognar (@Bogs4NY) July 13, 2020
New York City Police were reportedly investigating and no arrests have yet been made. In California last week, two people were charged with a hate crime for painting over Black Lives Matter mural but scores of looters and vandals who destroyed property in violent protests have still not been arrested.
Many noted how quickly the mayor sent out workers to touch up the letters, and just how many of them were needed to repaint the small area.
Interesting how fixing the BLM street painting has such IMMEDIATE PRIORITY.
— CRATER SAL (@m81461117) July 13, 2020
Seven guys, only one painting while the other six are supervising. Probably cost around $5k to fix. I thought the city had no money?
— Michael Driscoll (@MikeDriscoll112) July 13, 2020
Workers repainted the “Black Lives Matter” mural outside Trump Tower in NYC after it was vandalized Monday morning. https://t.co/YFIaEwCUFu pic.twitter.com/jjfdn5VxhR
— ABC News (@ABC) July 13, 2020
President Trump slammed the street painting as a “symbol of hate” earlier this month, blasting de Blasio for calling to defund the New York City Police Department while funding the so-called mural. Many Twitter users agreed and called out the mayor for his defense of the painted declaration which became the scene of multiple clashes between protesters over the weekend.
Nice to see he’s protective over his painting job. Now if only he’d protect his residents. 🤦♀️
— Terri ramirez (@tramirez95) July 13, 2020
Meanwhile how many people are starving, need shelter, need clothing, need medicine? Keep painting streets though. @NYCMayor Great use of taxpayer funds. Real genius at work here.
— ジェフ🐻⬇️ (@SpaceBard) July 13, 2020
Way to focus on the small picture Mr. Petty Mayor…
— Jimmy B. (@JimboJames12) July 13, 2020
We were told vandalism is a legitimate form of protest.
— Doq Goldenman (@Goldenman_Doq) July 13, 2020
If you graffiti graffiti, is it still considered graffiti?
— TaeSwifty (@SwiftyTae) July 13, 2020
Can NYC be sued by taxpayers for misuse of funds? Class action suit?
— David Neel (@neeldavid161) July 14, 2020
That’s not a “mural”. It’s branding. Coke and Pepsi wish they could get such a deal.
— AR (@arm621) July 13, 2020
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Frieda@bizpacreview.com
Originally from New York, Powers graduated from New York University and eventually made her way to sunny South Florida where she has been writing for the BizPacReview team since 2015.
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