Graffiti-marred Hornell pedestrian underpass getting surveillance system. What we know.

A Hornell pedestrian underpass long known for R-rated “art” and other mischief is getting a functioning surveillance system for the first time in decades, according to city officials. There has not been a working camera inside the Buffalo Street underpass opposite the police station since the last century, city officials said. As a result, pedestrians using the underground connection between Buffalo and Canisteo Street travel a gauntlet of graffiti, vulgarity and vandalism as a matter of routine. “The history of the underpass is kids go down there and spray paint whatever,” Hornell Mayor John Buckley said. “Graffiti has been there since I was a kid, and I don’t think the cameras system has worked since I was a kid.” “Probably the early 1980s was the last time the cameras worked,” the mayor added. That’s about to change. Buckley announced at a July 12 Board of Public Safety meeting that the city will install new video surveillance in the underpass. The setup will include a series of cameras and microphones, and a speaker to allow two-way communication between the tunnel and police. “So the person at the police department can effectively communicate back and forth if they see someone down there...