On Avenue J, by the Q train station and the B11/B6 bus stop, there is a rainbow-painted fire hydrant. It was first observed around the time of the supreme court ruling that said same sex marriage was a constitutional right. Since the rainbow flag is often associated with the LGBT community it is likely that whoever painted this did so in celebration of this ruling or as a message of support and solidarity. It is unknown who painted it, but it was definitely not commissioned. It appears to have been done with either spray paint or acrylic paint. It is colorful but crudely done, it’s uneven and the colors bleed into one another. The person who painted it probably didn’t expect it to last very long and it is surprising that it lasted this long. Although it’s in a very public place, people don’t seem to pay much attention to it as they are busy getting on the train or the bus. People generally don’t pay much attention fire hydrants unless they are parking, and since it’s near a bus stop no one is parking there. But there is nothing like this on Avenue J and it does stand out from its surroundings.
Despite whatever positive message or meaning the painter might have had, or if they thought this was something the community would appreciate, this was not the right thing do. Besides being unlawful defacement of city property, which alone is a crime, it is also a potential public safety issue. There are multiple types of fire hydrants and they are color coded so firefighters can tell them apart. By painting over the fire hydrant, firefighters responding to an emergency would be unable to identify what type of fire hydrant it is. There are more appropriate ways that the message could have been presented.
