A Bronx neighborhood was outraged last month when a building's mural memorializing 9/11 and a local firefighter who was killed at the World Trade Center was tagged by a graffiti artist. The tagger painted his initials directly over the face of Peter Bielfeld. Tips eventually led police to arrest 16-year-old Avery Prince, who goes by the tag SIPS and has since apologized for defacing the mural.
Artist Eddie Gonzalez has since restored Bielfeld's face to the mural and added some artistic embellishments that he hopes emphasize the sacrifice Bielfeld made (the firefighter was off-duty when he raced to the WTC and ran inside) that might deter future vandals. Also, the mural is being painted over with a protective layer of varnish that will make make washing off additional graffiti easier.
