News 12 covered the Celebration of the Tree Pit Street Beautification - Ellen Feld of SRAMA, Assemblyman Dinowitz and KRVC's Tracy McCabe Shelton pictured
KRVC is committed to supporting projects aimed to beautify our shopping corridors. KRVC has coordinated tree pit clean-up and beautification programs, graffiti prevention and removal programs, researched ways to beautify Broadway, proposed a new Plaza for South Riverdale Avenue, supported the North Riverdale Merchants Association proposal to beautify the North Riverdale Avenue shopping area and more. In 2016, thanks to generous funding from State Senator Jeff Klein and Councilmember Andrew Cohen, KRVC was able to bring back our tree pit maintenance and street beautification program to both South and North Riverdale. KRVC has also embarked on a project to improve and beautify the Kingsbridge/Van Cortlandt Village communities.
Spotlight on Graffiti Prevention and Removal - Through funding KRVC received from Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, our organization managed a Community Graffiti Clean-Up program for several years. In the fall 2010, we launched a new component of this important initiative – an awareness and education program . This program included three Stop Graffiti Days at area schools: PS 24 in September 2010; PS 7 in October 2010 and the Riverdale Kingsbridge Academy in April 2011. The Stop Graffiti Days included presentations for the children in the 5th-6th grade, Stop Graffiti Jeopardy! and a clean-up demonstration near the schools. The PS 24 event was covered by the media, At the schools, Assemblyman Dinowitz addressed the children first. "I've always been very committed to beautifying our community. Whether planting flowers or trees or fighting for clean streets or eliminating the scourge of graffiti. Our anti-graffiti program has cleaned-up hundreds of sites in our community but we must constantly work not only to clean but also prevent graffiti." The children were also treated to a presentation by Luis Rodriguez, Community Affairs Officer from the 50th Precinct and then they played “Stop Graffiti Jeopardy!” The games were organized by Tracy McCabe Shelton, KRVC’s Executive Director. After the assemblies, Bruce Pienkny of City Solve, a professional graffiti clean-up organization, explained the clean-up process through a demonstration in which he removed graffiti on the grounds of the schools.