There was a slew of graffiti vandalism that occurred in the downtown area last weekend, and there’s no abatement program in place to help alleviate the aftereffects.
The Hollister Downtown Association took note of the tagging on several properties last weekend and was trying to help the city get in contact with affected property owners, said HDA Executive Director Jeana Arnold.
She said the HDA was trying to help facilitate the process of contacting those building owners.
“The city was trying to contact all the property owners,” Arnold told San Benito Live earlier this week. “There really are no resources to help people. There’s no abatement program anymore.”
Arnold named off several buildings hit with the tagging, including several behind the old Muenzer’s property, Cheap Seats, the parking garage, behind City Hall by the old Red Cross building and even a city code enforcement vehicle.
She said some had been cleaned as of Tuesday morning and others had not. Arnold noted it was the first time in a while for such a big tagging of properties.
“It’s not a trend I want to see continue,” she said.
Hollister police Sgt. Don Pershall said the police department received four to five reports in at least three different locations downtown. There was also a broken car window involved, and he said police believe all of the vandalism was related.
Pershall said it appears the graffiti was gang related.
“It appears to be all the same suspects doing it just based on the style of writing, style of graffiti, same type of paint,” he said.
The city does maintain security cameras throughout the downtown area, but didn’t happen to catch views of the suspects this time around, he said.
“It just didn’t happen to be at the right angle,” he said.
The Hollister Police Department on its website notes that graffiti should be reported to the Graffiti Hotline at (831) 638-4175.
