Firm cleans up etched graffiti from Anaheim store windows
Upholstery shop owner Rosa Bobbio said she would fight the city of Anaheim rather than pay a graffiti-related fine.
Now city officials say she won’t have to.
After taggers etched graffiti into the windows of her shop late last year, the city ordered Bobbio to have the tags removed.
Bobbio, who paints over the graffiti that taggers regularly spray across her walls, balked and said she couldn’t afford to replace the windows.
After the etchings remained for months, the city sent her fines and fees of $466.66. Bobbio rebelled.
“I told them, ‘I’m not going to pay this fee. I do whatever it takes. It’s not right. If you want to take me to jail, I go to jail.’ That’s what I told them,” said Bobbio, who has owned Century Custom Upholstery on South East Street for decades.
But then officials of a Tustin-based graffiti removal business heard media reports about her plight.
On Tuesday, WKRP Services began sanding the graffiti off the glass and polishing the windows to a clear shine. The firm will place a protective film over her windows Wednesday.
The job, estimated to cost about $1,000, will be performed for free, said Mike Speakman of WKRP Services.
Now that the windows are being fixed, the city has waived the fine. “We’re just glad that we could help Rosa with this issue,” said Anaheim spokeswoman Ruth Ruiz, adding that it was not uncommon for the city to waive a fine once the offending damage has been cleared.
The improvements and protection will make dealing with future glass vandalism easier and cheaper, Bobbio said, but it won’t address the root of the problem.
“What is my guarantee that [the taggers] are not going to come back?” she said. “There’s no guarantee.”
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