Skip to content

Fernwood business owner fed up with graffiti vandals

Fernwood Auto Service owner will once again have to remove graffiti from decade-old mural
19094553_web1_FernwoodMuralFinal
Graffiti obstructing a mural on the side of Fernwood Auto Service at the intersection of Fernwood Road and Walnut Street, Oct. 24. (Sophie Heizer/News Staff)

Fernwood Auto Service owner, Robb Warren, will have to repaint the wall on the outside of his business in Fernwood this weekend after vandals once again tagged the mural with graffiti. The mural was painted by Victoria High students about a decade ago. He says he has had to touch up the mural approximately 15 times since it was originally painted. He said someone is coming to deal with it this weekend.

“I’ve had letters from the City of Victoria before,” said Warren. “They have a policy, you have to get rid of the graffiti within 24 hours or they send someone to paint over it.” Warren is frustrated by the time and money it has taken away from his local business, and the fact no one has been caught.

Warren said he didn’t know what else to do to protect his property from vandals besides fencing off the wall and putting up razor wire, which he doesn’t want to do in case someone injures themselves trying to climb over the fence to tag the wall. He said he’s amazed no one has ever seen the people tagging his building.

READ ALSO: Fernwood’s painted poles no more

A representative from Victoria Police Department said on Thursday it appeared Warren had not reported this latest incident to the department. Victoria police has a person working out of Esquimalt who coordinates police responses to graffiti, but that’s just one of the person’s multiple duties.

The representative said even though it’s very hard for Victoria police to gather evidence and move forward with an investigation of this nature, people should report even if they think it’s trivial. Victoria Police holds a meeting every 28 days to go over problems like this. The representative said they base resource allocation on citizen reports, so it’s important for them to know if there is an increase in reported vandalism and graffiti incidents, or if a particular individual in a particular area is causing problems so they can dedicate resources appropriately.

READ ALSO: Downtown Victoria bus shelters feature local art

sophie.heizer@saanichnews.com



Like us on Facebook and follow @yrlocaljourno