Vandals target downtown Hollister businesses with graffiti

Bonnie Voropaeff, of DLG Printing in downtown Hollister, discovered her business was tagged by vandals upon arriving to work, Monday morning.

“It was in two spots. On my doors as well as on my wall. Three to four feet tall,” said Voropaeff.

The incident happened late, last Friday night. Vandals targeted multiple downtown Hollister businesses with bold, red graffiti. Police believe the incident could be gang related. “We started receiving other reports that other businesses had been affected. There were five in total. It all appears to be the same gang-type graffiti,” said Sgt. Don Pershall with Hollister Police.

Shortly after, business owners received a letter from the Hollister Downtown Association. Voropaeff said it explained the requirement for her, and the four other businesses targeted, to paint over the graffiti within 72 hours, per city law. This came as an unexpected out-of-pocket expense for DLG Painting and neighboring businesses.

“We do try to keep the downtown cleaned up. It’s part of doing business. It’s not something you want to do, but sometimes sweeping up all the leaves isn’t something you want to do, as well,” said Voropaeff.

Unlike some other Central Coast communities, the City of Hollister does not have a formal program to clean graffiti from private properties. This left downtown businesses with no choice but to do it themselves. DLG Printing and Hollister Paint even donated supplies to other businesses to clean up the mess.

Voropaeff said she hopes the activity won’t continue. “H opefully it wasn’t a gang initiation. That’s what someone else had suggested. It’s sad,” said Voropaeff.

Others said the vandalism is a wakeup call and that downtown needs more attention. “W hen you have a vibrant downtown, when you have a lot of activity, a lot of people walking, it’s harder to get away with that stuff. To that extent I don’t believe we have that focus and that game plan,” said owner of Ohana Shave Ice, Peter Hernandez.

Hollister Police are still investigating this incident and urge anyone with any information to give them a call.