Chinatown shops say city should go after taggers instead of fining businesses
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OAKLAND, California (KPIX) — The Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council is trying to get the city to work with them, as store owners say it’s not fair that they are getting fined for graffiti that keeps being put on their walls.
“So many times like we clean up, they come again, again, again, like that,” said Shirley Lou.
Shirley Lou owns Won Kee Supermarket in Oakland’s Chinatown. She said for the past few years taggers have been targeting her business relentlessly.
“We clean up and then they come and graffiti again,” said Lou.
After multiple times repainting her storefront only for it to be graffitied again the next day, Lou said she gave up trying to keep it clean.
But that’s when she says the city came knocking.
“It’s not fair. We are the victims, and yet we’re being penalized,” said Lou through an interpreter.
Stewart Chen is the president of the Oakland Chinatown Improvement Council. He said the city sent Shirley a notice threatening to fine her if she didn’t clean the graffiti.
“She thought it’s very unfair. She cleaned it too after the first notice. She cleaned the graffiti. But before the city could come back and reinspect it, the taggers came back, and they tagged it again. And when the city inspector came back to check it, they saw the graffiti back on the wall and thought that she didn’t clean it,” said Chen.
Stewart said many business owners in the area not just Shirley have been threatened with fines, some thousands of dollars, if they don’t clean the graffiti.
But he said when it comes to trying to catch and arrest the taggers the city isn’t helping.
“I’ve also spoken to the police. They know who the taggers are, but they can arrest and the DA doesn’t prosecute,” said Chen.
That’s why the council is calling for the city to work with them to, in their eyes, prioritize arresting the culprits rather than penalizing the victims.
“I think it’s beyond our capacity to just clean it up. We will have a separate unit called the graffiti abatement OCIC, my organization will start cleaning the graffiti, but what is going to keep the taggers from coming back, that’s on you, the city,” said Chen.
Lou said she is just hoping someone can help her because she can’t afford to keep cleaning up the graffiti, and she definitely can’t afford to pay continuous fines.
“So sad, so sad. It’s not fair, not fair,” said Lou.
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