102-year-old California man ordered to clean up graffiti on personal property or pay thousands
A 102-year-old California man bound to a wheelchair was ordered by city officials to clean up spray-painted graffiti on his fence or face thousands of dollars in fines.
FOX 2 in San Francisco reported that 102-year-old Victor Silva Sr. often finds graffiti painted on the fence of his Oakland home, where he has lived and paid taxes for 80 years.
In early March, Silva received a city violation citation from Oakland, ordering him to remove the graffiti by Tuesday, March 19, or face a fine of $1,100, plus $1,277 for each re-inspection that fails.
His daughter-in-law, Elena Silva, told that station the situation is "absurd."
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"It’s like a joke," she said. "If you drive around the city and see the graffiti everywhere, it’s just, I don’t know what to say."
Victor Sr. said when he was younger, he would paint over the graffiti himself, using nothing but a roller and a paintbrush.
"It was very easy because I was a contractor," he said. "I’ll be 103 in two months or so. That slowed it up a little bit, you know."
His son, Victor Silva Jr., 70, helps out these days with covering up the graffiti, which to some, is urban art.
Silva Jr. told the station keeping up with the graffiti is hard because once it is covered, new graffiti soon appears.
A big utility box up the street from Silva’s home reportedly had six types of graffiti painted on it.
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Crime in Oakland is on the rise and several stores have packed up or changed how they do business because of the amount of retail thefts and other offenses taking place.
Silva Jr. said the family has a small business which has been broken into three times over the last year, and in one instance, he found a person inside.
Each time, Silva Jr. called 911 and was put on hold.
"So, it’s hard to understand where our tax dollars are going," he said. "They can’t answer 911, but they can come out and hassle you about the fence.
"I would hate to think that there [are] other hundred-year-old people that are being harassed like this," he added. "Oakland has to change. The system is not working."
The station reported that it was contacted by a city inspector who said he would inspect the graffiti immediately, and, presumably, cancel the citation.