(Dmytro “Henry” Aleksandrov, Headline USA) A wheelchair-bound 102-year-old man from Oakland, Calif., was ordered by the city to clean up graffiti on the outside of his fence or face thousands of dollars in fines.
Victor Silva Sr. received a notice from the City of Oakland earlier this month, in which the city officials ordered him to remove graffiti from his property by March 19, 2024, adding that if he doesn’t do that, he may receive a fine of $1,100 plus nearly $1,300 for every additional failed follow-up inspection, KTVU reported.
Silva, a retired contractor who’s been living in the same house for 80 years, said that he used to take care of the problem himself until he became too old to do that.
“Just had a roller and a paintbrush and just painted it. It was very easy because I was a contractor. I’ll be 103 in two months or so. That slowed it up a little bit,” he said.
“It’s hard to keep up with it because as soon as we get it painted, [there’s] gonna be graffiti on it again, and it won’t last,” Victor Silva Jr., Silva’s son, said.
The son also called Oakland’s treatment of his father a form of harassment.
“I would hate to think that there [are] other hundred-year-old people that are being harassed like this. Oakland has to change. The system is not working,” he said.
In addition to that, Victor Jr. said that every time he has called 911 to report some form of property crime, he is placed on hold.
“It’s hard to understand where our tax dollars are going. They can’t answer 911, but they can come out and hassle you about a fence?” he said.
The son’s wife, Elena Silva, called the entire situation “absurd.”
“It’s like a joke. You drive around the city and see the graffiti everywhere,” she said.
