Anti-graffiti coating being tested in city.

What looks like water, feels like wax and fights crime? The answer is G-Pro, a liquid substance invented by a New Rochelle chemical engineer that could become the first line of defense for real estate owners in their war against graffiti.

The material has been tested for several months on the Brooklyn Bridge by the New York City Department of Transportation as part of the city's own on-going battle with graffiti vandals. In the middle of August, the Dept. of Transportation video-taped a power wash-off session and showed it to officials from both Landmarks Preservation and the Parks Department.

Meanwhile, companies that supply graffiti removal and chemicals are lining up to become distributors while the City of New Rochelle is currently contemplating its own demonstration project.

The clear, non-toxic liquid is being applied to areas on New York City bridges that have been targeted by vandals in the past. Aside from being environmentally friendly, it is also cheaper to use and easier to remove than other methods on the market, says its inventor, Bob Black, who daylights as the head of the Chemistry Dept. at Brooklyn Technical High School.

The material, G-Pro, has a patent pending and acts as a sealer over paint, brickwork, marble, wood, concrete and other structural components, without affecting their look - an important consideration when protecting prominent properties.

While most anti-graffiti efforts in the past have concentrated on making the graffiti itself easy to clean off, G-Pro actually reacts with the graffiti and is washed off - along with the mess - simply and quickly with a high-pressure, hot water power washer. "It can wash off the graffiti faster than the vandal can paint it," said Black.

Of course, that means Black, president of B.A.T. Technologies, Inc., will reap the benefits in repeat applications. Nevertheless, the city's Director of Bridge Painting, Jim Russo, says G-Pro is cheaper than other methods, particularly when it comes to manpower.

"The big advantage is it's cost advantage," said Russo. "The time it takes is cut in half compared to other products."

Although a price has not yet been determined, it is expected to sell to users for less than other products. Other anti--graffiti materials now available, Balck said, are $60 or more a gallon and are not as effective. In fact, the Director of Sanitation for the Times Square Business Improvement District, John Beltrami, says they are being offered such "sacrificial" coatings for $150 a gallon, and they leave a shadow when removed.

Black explained that often graffiti removers apply a paint remover, power wash it off, and unless they have attacked the graffiti quickly, a shadow is left behind.

"Then they have to sandblast it and that is bad for the surface because it wears it away," said Black. "You can spend a lot of time per square foot to remove it. G-Pro just peels the graffiti right off."

Black says a gallon of G-Pro will cover between 300 and 500 square feet, depending on the porosity of the surface. Beltrami observed that its coverage exceeds a lot of other products that he has seen. He has found that DOT workers can cover 400 to 500 square feet with a gallon, while the coverage of other products is 200 to 300 square feet.

"A gallon of paint covers, at best, 350 to 500 square feet," said Black, "so we do as well if not better on any kind of surface." On very smooth metal, Black believes the G-Pro would probably cover about 600 square feet.

DOT is pleased with the way the coating has worked on the bridges, plazas and walkways. "It works pretty good," said Russo. "It's a real nice, easy product to use. We did our tests on the Brooklyn Bridge and are starting to maintain other bridges in the city with this product." The DOT removes .6 million square feet of graffiti from non-arterial sites each year and paints over another 4.2 million square feet along roadways.

Russo says the material even works well when applied on wet surfaces, such as those just cleaned off with the hot water power spray. "It's a little better with the application if the stone is a little wet," he said. "So once you remove it you can reapply the product and you are on your way. You can spray it or roll it on. It washes up with water, which is a big advantage. And there are no hazards to the environment."

Plus, Russo continued, the G-Pro is virtually invisible, while similar products tend to leave a residue. "If you look real close you might be able to see something," he said. "And if you feel the stone and rub your fingers together it feels like a bit of wax."

Russo said the G-Pro creates a nice barrier because it leaves the natural appearance of the stone. "On the arterials we do the paint-over method, but there are a lot of specialty areas out there where we would like to keep the natural appearance. Something like the Brooklyn Bridge is a landmarks issue," he added. "You want to keep it aesthetically pleasing. You have a lot of tourists and the Brooklyn Bridge is known world-wide."

Not only is the G-Pro beneficial for landmarked city bridges, but the liquid could be used to coat delicate statues, public and privately-owned buildings, overpasses, trucks, subway cars, and rolldown steel store guards - all frequent targets of graffiti writers.

The material is absolutely environment-friendly. "There is absolutely nothing hazardous or toxic in it," Black said, noting that he has a material safety data sheet (MSDS) on its contents. "It's a water-based product."

City workers who take great pride in their hard-hats are also eager to coat them with G-Pro, Black said, since stray paint droplets are then easily washed off.

But the G-Pro needs to be washed off with a high power hot water washer that costs close to $2,000. So while one store owner might not be able to afford the investment, a Business Improvement District, for instance, might consider buying one for the neighborhood.

"When we see graffiti on bricks, buildings and walls," said Beltrami, who removes or paints over 32 square blocks of graffiti in the Times Square District with a lot of help from the large property owners like Equitable and Newmark, "we use a high-pressure hot water steam machine that we affectionately call 'Frankensteamer' to remove it."

Because most of the sacrificial coatings they are offered are just too expensive, for the most part, the Times Square graffiti fighters paint over where they can. "It would be appealing to test [G-Pro] and then turn it over to the property owners," said Beltrami.

One G-Pro drawback is that it can't be applied over a surface that is already stricken with graffiti. "All you'll do is preserve the graffiti that's already there," Black explained. On the other hand, this just might be the way to preserve the special outdoor murals and items like the non-reproducible Keith Haring artwork that exists around the city.

Black is the head of the Brooklyn Technical High School chemistry department, the largest in the country, where he has been teaching for 25 years. After school, he works with a Yonkers fragrance and flavor firm that is a partner with him in G-Pro. "You could say this was cooked up in my basement lab," he laughed, confessing to actually having one to work in at home.

Inventiveness runs in the family as Black's grandfather, a doctor, devised both Black Flag anti-pest spray and the first tablet-maker for drug dosing.

Black says his forte is working with chemicals used for one application and then seeing how they can be mixed for another use in another industry. He has four patents now pending and holds another three in the area of concrete blocks. Black had been working on developing stronger concrete blocks when he started thinking about ways to eliminate problems with graffiti.

He recalled sitting on his backyard patio about four years ago, sipping Chivas Regal and gazing at the alcohol when he realized the weak link in spray paint is the glue. "Spray paint is made up of a solvent, a pigment and a glue that holds the pigment onto the surface," he said.

So Black focused on the idea of applying an inexpensive coating that would interfere with the setting of the graffiti and could be removed with hot water. "Then the sacrificial coat could be reapplied," he explained.

The G-Pro that he subsequently formulated interferes with the set of the glue in the paint. And why did Chivas remind him of paint? "another thing that interferes with the set of the paint is alcohol," he laughed.

Black is eager to not only sell his unique product but wants to make a contribution to the city. "Having been a teacher for 25 years I would love an opportunity to speak with the Chancellor of the Board of Education and offer it at cost to help clean the schools of New York," he volunteered.

Meantime, Black has set up a toll-free phone number - 800-260-8766 - for other interested users. For large users, he will supply the material in a 55-gallon drum.