"Native New Yorkers Hate You" - Man Who Recently moved into city cleans mailboxes, so why's he getting trashed online?

Some New Yorkers are up in arms after a man filmed himself repainting a mailbox that's been covered in stickers, claiming his actions display a lack of consideration for local cultural mores. TikTok user Neveaa (@neveea) published a video explaining her gripes with the man's actions.

While many people stated that they agreed with Neveea's viewpoint, others disagreed, leading to a debate in the comments section about what makes a "native" New Yorker. Additionally, arguments regarding Neveea's own background, along with whether or not plastering a bunch of stickers and graffiti on a mailbox constitutes as a valid cultural touchstone also popped up in discussion replies to her video.

The cleaner in question is a content creator who goes by Sweet P. He regularly films himself tackling clean up projects, and has uploaded several short-form clips on YouTube of his endeavors. In this one video, he scrapes off a series of stickers and afterwards, sands it down.

Following this, he then coats the fixture with primer, to get it ready for a fresh coat of paint. Much of the graffiti and some sticker remnants are still stuck to the mailbox. Afterwards, he brings out a shake can of paint and lays down a base coat.

Next, he unscrews the top of a can of paint, revealing a dark green hue that's a dead ringer for the mailbox's original paint job. After stirring it, he then pours it inside of a tray and coats a small roller with the stuff. A time lapse video shows him covering the mailbox up with the roller, leaving it looking closer to the day it was first installed.

Neveea, among others, weren't happy with his work. In a social media post of her own, she speaks as a floating head over a green screen video of another NYC mailbox cleaning video of Sweet P's. She preaches in her clip: "And this is the problem that native New Yorkers have with transplants," she says.

The influencer pre-empts her critique with a semi-concession, stating that she could understand why he may believe his actions are helpful. "Let's give this gentleman the benefit of the doubt and his intentions were pure to clean up the city and to do well," she says.

Although, shortly thereafter, she begins to then opine on the philosophy of migrants moving into an area and not checking their behavior. "Who asks for that? As a transplant, you are coming in and you are erasing part of what makes New York City New York City," Neveea says.

She continued, stating that it wasn't Sweet P's job to clean these mailboxes up. "US Mail could come in at any point and paint those. Nobody calls 311 about that," she said.

What's more, is that Neveea said outsiders coming into New York City are part and parcel of why so much has changed in the city. Attributing their arrival to swooping changes to its commercial and business landscape.

"The fact that transplants are going around and they're trying to redo the New York City culture to spin it as their own is the reason why we no longer have local mom and pops and have Trader Joe's and Whole Foods and all these private equity companies pushing in," she says.

"It's all directly related to that because you lose the pizazz and what makes New York City, New York City. When you do stuff like this. Enough," she says at the end of her video.

One of the top commenters who replied to Neveea's post wrote: "Born and raised in NYC I appreciate this mail box being painted." However, others responded with differing opinions: "You're not part of the vibe we speaking of. You can move and we won't miss you."

Someone else responded with: "A clean mailbox is a problem?" And another echoed this sentiment: "Some people hate having a clean neighborhood." Which is another ideology a different person espoused: "I can't imagine people actually getting mad at somebody making a place look better."

Others argued that the "grunge" of NYC is what contributes to its appeal. But a different person gave their own outlook on the situation, writing: "So now cleaning up is offensive." Some stated however that graffiti is an art form and should be treated as such.

When is the erasure of a pre-existing culture in an area, or critical rhetoric of outsiders considered acceptable? For instance, this NY resident's video gained viral attention when he went on a rant, in Spanish, at the sound of the adhan being blared through loudspeakers in his neighborhood.

Other NY residents have also decried the call to prayer as noise pollution as they decried the decision mosques made to project the adhan loudly throughout the street. In Norwich, Great Britain, a historic pub had plans to be converted into a mosque blocked by local history groups in order to preserve the area's heritage.