'Don’t mess with our neighborhood': Common Fence Point residents turn graffiti into positive
PORTSMOUTH — Raised in Pennsylvania, Karyn Jimenez-Elliott now calls Common Fence Point home, and she takes a lot of pride in her neighborhood.
So after the railway entrance to that part of town was defaced with graffiti, she took it upon herself to give it a fresh paint job. Jimenez-Elliott was up bright and early Sunday — brushes, rollers and red paint in hand — to tackle the eight-hour job.
“I really love our neighborhood,” she said in a phone conversation Monday morning. “I think it’s a special little place, and I want to keep it pretty and keep it welcoming and not covered in graffiti.”
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Jimenez-Elliott, who teaches graphic design at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, approached the Common Fence Point Association about the project, and it developed into a bit of a team effort from there.
The neighborhood group secured the funds for the materials needed, and Conley Wake Zani, president of the association, went to Town Administrator Richard Rainer to inquire about a free police detail, which Chief Brian Peters was happy to provide.
Resident Aimee Sweeney was able to gain approval for painting the railway, which is leased by the state to a company that offers train rides.
“I think that's what this community does very well. We come together and we rally around issues,” Zani said. “It’s like don’t mess with our neighborhood. That’s all you can do. You can’t really stop (the graffiti), so how do you not let it get you down? You say we’re going to turn it into something magical.”
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The police detail was scheduled to start after 7 a.m., but Jimenez-Elliott found herself awake long before dawn and just wanted to get started. At first, she was "worried people would think I was the graffiti artist,” but once the sun came up and residents realized what she was doing, they provided plenty of encouragement.
“They rolled down their windows and were saying thank you,” Jimenez-Elliot said. “They were sincere because they live there, and they don’t want to see that (graffiti).”
An older couple came by and helped collect trash in the area, and one woman picked up a paintbrush to get into the nooks and crannies of the stone. Zani, who offered coffee and doughnuts, said there was a resident moved to tears. She got out of her car and just hugged everyone.
On her way into work Monday morning, Jimenez-Elliott said her arms and shoulders were sore. She knows there could be more graffiti in the future, but this was her way of keeping that entrance from being an eye sore.
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“We live there, we don’t want to see that coming home every day,” she said. If the vandals do return, “I’ll be out there again and touch it up.”
This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Common Fence Point residents paint over railway bridge graffiti
