A 102-year-old wheelchair-bound California man has been ordered by city officials to clean up graffiti spray-painted on his fence or face thousands of dollars in fines.
FOX 2 in San Francisco Victor Silva Sr., 102, reported that he often sees graffiti painted on the fence of his home in Oakland, where he has lived and paid taxes for 80 years.
In early March, Silva received a municipal violation citation from the city of Oakland and was ordered to remove the graffiti by Tuesday, March 19, or face a $1,100 fine and failure to re-inspect. Each person was fined $1,277.
His daughter-in-law, Elena Silva, told the station the situation was “absurd.”
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Victor Silva Sr., a resident of Oakland, California, was told by city officials to remove graffiti from his fence. (FOX2 San Francisco)
“It’s kind of a joke,” she said. “When you drive down the street and see graffiti everywhere, you don’t know what to say.”
Victor Sr. said that when he was younger, he used to paint over graffiti himself, using only a roller and a paintbrush.
“It was pretty easy because I was a contractor,” he said. “And he’ll be 103 in about two months, so that’s slowed him down a little bit.”
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Victor Silva Sr., a resident of Oakland, California, was told by city officials to remove graffiti from his fence. (FOX2 San Francisco)
His son, Victor Silva Jr., 70, has recently been helping cover up the graffiti, which some consider urban art.
Silva Jr. told the station that it is difficult to keep up with graffiti because once it is covered, new graffiti appears quickly.
Six different types of graffiti were reportedly painted on a large utility box on the street from Silva’s home.
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An Oakland, California, man cleaned graffiti off his fence after authorities threatened to pay him thousands of dollars in fines. (FOX2 San Francisco)
Crime is on the rise in Oakland, with several stores reducing operations or changing the way they operate due to high rates of retail theft and other crimes.
Silva Jr. said his family’s small business had been broken into three times in the past year, including one where they found people inside.
Each time, Silva Jr. called 911, but was put on hold.
“So it’s hard to understand where our tax dollars are being spent,” he says. “They can’t answer 911, but they can come out and bother you about the fence.
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“I don’t want to think that something like that could happen. [are] There are other 100-year-olds who are being harassed like this,” he added, “Auckland has to change. The system is not working.”
The department reported that they were contacted by city inspectors and informed that they would immediately inspect the graffiti and likely have their citation removed.
