BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery has a tradition of being one of the East Village’s most progressive houses of worship, with its doors open to all. But a group of “crusty travelers” who hang out around the church have apparently worn out their welcome.
Things came to a head last Friday around 3 p.m. when three of the crusty punks graffitied over the church’s front with white latex paint. Using a paintbrush, in large block letters, they scrawled obscenity-laden messages on the portico’s bluestone slate floor, on walls and on statues and also on a small lion statue in Abe Lebewohl Park outside the church grounds.
Apparently, one of the crusties, a woman named Goldee or Goldy (it was spelled differently in different spots) was angry at her boyfriend, Morgan. “Fuck Morgan” was painted across the base of a lion statue to the west of the church doors. “Fuck Morgan Like Everyone Eles [sic]” was splashed across a low wall. The name “Spaz” was also among the scrawled messages. Also, the eyes and mouth of a lion statue were “highlighted” with white paint.
Winnie Varghese, the church’s rector, said she was alerted by members of the Poetry Project, which holds workshops at the church, that the graffitiing was happening. When she came out, she saw three crusties on the portico, two men and one woman. One of the men had just put down a paintbrush and there was a can of paint, she said. When they saw her, they fled right past her. She said she recognized one man from having seen him hanging out in Abe Lebewohl Park in front of the church on Second Ave. She described him as extremely skinny, dressed in black and always in a “very altered” state. She didn’t get a good look at the other two, but said the Poetry Project members recognized the woman.
“They said they see her all the time,” the reverend said.
Varghese called the police. The responding officers took Varghese and the poets in their patrol car to canvass the area to see if they could find the crusty trio, but without success.
Speaking this Tuesday, Varghese said the three crusties have not been seen around the church or park since.
The graffiti was cleaned off using graffiti remover, turpentine and steel wool.
Ironically, the historic East Village house of worship just won a $135,000 preservation grant to brush up its portico. The work will include the church’s whole front area, including the bluestone floor and walls the crusties painted on, as well as the roof above the entrance.
Last Sunday evening, three crusties were huddled together on the ground near Abe Lebewohl Park’s flagpole, restlessly trying to sleep. A few feet from their heads, a rat or two rustled around through the low foliage of the small park plot.
A man wearing a fedora rolled up on a bicycle, with a sleeping bag strapped to the front, to say hi to the prone threesome. Asked by a reporter about the graffiting on the church’s portico, he said he’d check with the group on the ground.
“Goldee,” one of the men groggily called out several times.
The man on the bike — who asked that he be identified only as H, the initial of his first name — “translated” for the reporter, saying that Goldee had done the graffiti, but that she wasn’t really part of the regular crew that hangs out around the church.
H expressed concern that there would be a crackdown on the crusties there. He noted the travelers don’t hang out in Tompkins Square Park anymore because the police have driven them out of there. For the second summer in a row, there are no travelers in Tompkins this season, he said. He added that police recently arrested him when he was jumping over the Tompkins fence as he was merely trying to exit the park after it had been closed for the curfew.
“They locked us in the park,” he complained.
As for himself, he said he was a traveler for years. But, with some disappointment, H, 30, said he was becoming a “home bum” — meaning a traveler who is settling down in one city. He said he’s been in New York City for two years now, sleeping on the streets.
Meanwhile, Varghese said, the group of crusties hanging out around the church this season — they arrive in the warm weather — are fewer in number, but more aggressive and troubled, in her view, than before. The crusties hang out in Abe Lebewohl Park, but come onto the church’s property to try to shoot up or use the bathrooms, she said.
The crusties have used the church’s bathroom to deal drugs, as well as to shoot up, she said. As a result, the church has taken to closing its public restrooms, only opening them for intermission during plays and Poetry Project performances, for example. However, one crusty isn’t deterred when he finds the bathroom locked.
“I don’t know how to say this, he — takes a dump outside the theater,” the reverend said.
“They’re here every day and we have to deal with them every day,” she said of the crusties. “The police kind of move them along. As a church, we want to stay open — we become the front line.”
Varghese said the homeless youths fight each other and sometimes go sprinting through the church’s grounds, leading her to believe they must have stolen something.
Recently she saw a group of them — two men and a woman — in the church’s front yard “getting naked.”
“They were pulling each other’s clothes. They were clearly messed up,” she said.
When she whipped out her cell phone to call the police, they started yelling at her. As they made to run off, one man picked up a bunch of prescription pill bottles that had been underneath him on the ground, she said.
“They’re sort of angry because we don’t let them shoot up on our site,” she said. “We see needles when they’re gone. They leave bottles with water — [drug] paraphernalia. … We don’t want to create a safe space to kill yourself.”
She said last week she also saw a female crusty peeing in broad daylight behind the Peter Stuyvesant statue in the church’s front yard.
“She had her pants down and her hands against the statue and she was just looking out at Second Ave.,” the rector said.
Varghese said she previously worked in a mental health facility in Los Angeles, so is familiar about dealing with substance abusers who may also have psychological problems.
“I know the issues of people who are dual-diagnosed,” she said. Many of the youths come from broken families and abusive backgrounds.
Asked if she just wished they would stay off the church’s property, she said yes.
“I would love for that to happen,” she said. “As a church, our core value is to reach out to those who are afflicted. But it’s not physically safe out here. I can’t guarantee the safety of our congregation and the food pantry line.
“They’ve kind of crossed the line,” she said of the crusty punks. “They’re kind of different from old drunk people. There’s just an aggression to these people that’s different.”
Varghese said it was Frank Morales, the church’s former associate pastor, who opened the church to the crusties several years ago.
“He felt these were people that really need help,” she said. “I can respect that — I can respect his politics and theology. But they’re here and doing things that are really scandalous.”
Varghese came to St. Mark’s two years ago as acting priest in charge, as the E. 10th St. church was embarking on a mission to improve its fiscal situation. This March, the Episcopal Diocese formally dubbed her rector — an indication the church has achieved firmer financial footing. Morales, a radical priest, had opened the church to anarchist protesters during the 2004 Republican National Convention. He left the church a few years ago as it was heading in a new direction.
Told of Varghese’s comments, Morales said she didn’t have the story quite right.
“I never invited anyone or any particular constituency to hang out in the portico,” he said.
“My suggestion would be to maybe invite people and get to know everyone and see if there’s a possibility that some kind of indigenous leadership can be set up to so-called ‘police’ the situation,” he offered. “It’s better than locking the place up. It’s kind of hard to do — one needs to create a line of communication.
“As far as my having personally invited the crusties in to exhibit that kind of bad behavior,” he said, with a light laugh, “I think that’s a bit disingenuous.”
