By Gus Saltonstall

If you frequent Columbus Avenue on the Upper West Side, there is a good chance you have noticed one of the many dozen examples of the word “Smoke” recently graffitied onto storefronts and buildings.

The graffiti was tagged on multiple facades along the avenue at some point at the end of last week.

“Any news about the SMOKE graffiti that has come up on Columbus for 8 streets in a row,” Jon Courtney asked West Side Rag in an email.

Upper West Side Councilmember Gale Brewer also took note of the new neighborhood graffiti, and penned a letter Monday to the New York Police Department and New York City Department of Sanitation about the issue.

“I write to bring to your attention to an outbreak of graffiti – “SMOKE” – on almost EVERY storefront on the west side of Columbus

See Full Page