A 102-year-old man in a wheelchair has been threatened with a hefty fine by Oakland officials after thugs painted graffiti on his home and he was unable to remove the paint.
Victor Silva, Sr.’s home is a frequent target of vandalism by thugs in the crime-ridden California city.
Silva, who has lived and paid taxes in Oakland for more than 80 years, faced threats of a $1,100 fine from the city of Oakland for the graffiti.
The violation citation required that the paint be removed by Tuesday the 19th and that an additional fine would be added for each failed inspection in the future.
‘It was so absurd, it’s like a joke. If you drive around the city and see graffiti everywhere, I just don’t know what to say,” her daughter-in-law Elena Silva told KVTU.
A 102-year-old man in a wheelchair was threatened with a hefty fine by Oakland officials after thugs painted graffiti on his home and he was unable to remove the paint.
The home of Oakland native Victor Silva, Sr. is a frequent target of vandalism by thugs in the crime-ridden California city.
Silva, who has lived and paid taxes in Oakland for more than 80 years, faced threats of a $1,100 fine from the city of Oakland for the graffiti.
In his youth, Silva went to the trouble of painting over graffiti over and over again.
‘I just had a roller and a brush and I painted it. It was very easy because I was a contractor,” she said.
However, since he’s been in a wheelchair, it hasn’t been so easy to cover the paint on the back fence of his Oakland home.
‘I will be 103 years old in about two months. That slowed it down a little bit, you know,” Silva Sr. said.
Nowadays it is Silva’s 70-year-old son who has to paint over the graffiti every time it reappears.
“It’s hard to keep up because as soon as we paint it, graffiti will come back and it won’t last,” Silva Jr. said.
Down the street from Silva’s home, a large utility box is also covered in six different types of graffiti. The utility box has no owner except the city, which can be threatened with charges.
‘It was so absurd, it’s like a joke. If you drive around the city and see graffiti everywhere, I just don’t know what to say,” said her daughter-in-law Elena Silva.
Today, Silva’s son, Silva Jr., 70, has to paint over the graffiti every time it reappears.
The Silva family owns a small commercial business in Oakland that has been divided three times in the last year.
During a robbery, Silva Jr. trapped a person inside the store and called 911. “And they always put me on hold,” he said. ‘That’s why it’s difficult to understand where our tax money goes. They can’t answer 911, but they can come out and bother you over a fence?
When asked how he managed to live to be 103, Silva said: “Very easy.” He just keeps breathing and, you know, behave.
Silva Jr added: “I would hate to think that there are other centenarians who are being harassed in this way.” Oakland has to change. The system is not working.’
MailOnline has contacted Oakland City Council for comment.
Crime in Oakland has increased in recent years, leading many businesses in the area to close permanently.
Recently, Taco Bell locations in Oakland were forced to close and switch to drive-thru and cashless payments only.
The decision was made after the chain was subject to a series of robberies amid a relentless rise in crime in the city.
Oakland police data reveals that robberies increased by a whopping 38% between 2022 and 2023.
Motor vehicle theft, in particular, saw a major increase, with the force reporting 44% more in 2023 compared to 2022.
There were 8,675 cases of car theft in the city in 2022, compared to 12,956 last year. Thefts also increased 23% compared to the previous year.
Another fast food chain has been hit by rising crime: In-N-Out Chief Operating Officer Denny Warnick wrote in a statement: “Despite taking repeated steps to create safer conditions, our customers and associates are regularly victims of car breakdowns. Trespasses, property damage, theft and armed robbery.’
The fast-food burger joint sits on a square mile with several gas stations that police say are the target of about a dozen violent crimes each day. The In-N-Out Burger parking lot is attacked daily.