An elderly California man in a wheelchair was recently ordered to paint over his vandalized fence alongside his 70-year-old son or face massive fines.
The city of Oakland is now going after a 102-year-old man in a wheelchair.
His crime? He was unable to remove all the graffiti painted all over his home by thugs.
Victor Silva Sr. faces a $1,100 fine, PLUS additional $1277 fines for each failed re-inspection.
This is who… pic.twitter.com/wFkdMAkQrs
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) March 27, 2024
Victor Silva, 102, painted over the black and red graffiti on the fence in the back of his, which he has lived in for the past 80 years, after Oakland officials gave him a deadline of March 19, 2024.
While speaking to the local news outlet KTVU, Silva said, “[I] Just had a roller and a paintbrush and just painted it.”
The New York Post reported that if Silva did not comply with the order, he would be forced to pay a $1,100 fine and an additional $1,277 each time he failed another inspection.
The 102-year-old said he painted out the graffiti himself without issues for years, but it’s become more difficult with him as his age progresses.
“It was very easy because I was a contractor, you know. I’ll be 103 in two months or so. That slowed it up a little bit, you know,” Silva said.
The 102-year-old’s family issued a scathing rebuke of city officials over the reoccurring issue, calling their actions “absurd.”
“It was so absurd, it’s like a joke. If you drive around the city and see the graffiti everywhere, it’s just, I don’t know what to say,” Silva’s daughter-in-law, Elena Silva, told KTVU.
Silva’s son, Victor Silva Jr., must now take up the burden. He claimed that the graffiti keeps showing up despite their actions to prevent vandalism.
“It’s hard to keep up with it because as soon as we get it painted, it’s gonna be graffiti on it again, and it won’t last,” Silva Jr. said.
Silva’s family noted that a utility box yards away from the fence also contained graffiti. The family was infuriated when the 102-year-old was threatened with a fine.
Silva Jr. said he has become used to the decay in Oakland. The 70-year-old manages his family’s nearby small commercial building, which has been broken into three times in the past 10 years. On each occasion, he called law enforcement, but the issue continued.
“I’m put on hold every time. So, 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?” Silva Jr. told KTVU.
