ESCONDIDO (KGTV) - Monday morning neighbors posted about a rash of graffiti in Escondido, a block away from Glen View Elementary school, outraged at the content and vandalism.
On East Mission Avenue, just past Midway Drive, a home and two power boxes stained with black spray paint.
One of the designs looked like a Star of David, causing concern online, worried the vandalism was anti-semitic.
"I noticed the graffiti over there, and that's just a disgrace," Grandmother Rose Ochoa said as she paused on her daily walk with two grandchildren on their way to pick up another grandchild.
"I feel disrespected. I feel like there's a lot of hate," Christina Landers said. She's lived in this neighborhood for about 27 years and said the graffiti has spread closer to her home, "it's crazy, it's like they're messing up our side of town."
"I mean it's everywhere, you can't walk down a block without seeing it," Ochoa said. She moved to San Diego from Los Angeles and said she loves this neighborhood.
"I think they're too young to point it out right now," she said referencing her 4-year-old granddaughter and 2-year-old grandson, "and I'm thankful for that, but there's going to come a time that I'll have to explain it to them, and that's going to be hard because I teach them at home do not to write on the walls, do not write on the chairs and then we walk out here and see everything on the walls."
One of the tags included what looked like the Star of David, concerning the owner of the home that was tagged.
"I talked to the guy, and the guy says I don't have any enemies I don't know why they'd do this to me?" Landers said.
Around 11 a.m. the Escondido Graffiti Eradication Unit drove up, ready to repaint the walls and electrical boxes.
"It's very rewarding to be able to give back to a community I've lived in my whole life," City Worker Nate Tunnell said.
Both he and his coworker said the work is constant, and thankful neighbors make it worthwhile.
"We've been fighting them, and it looks like we've been beating them too, so that's always going to put a smile on my face," Tunnell said.
"Right on you're doing a good job!" Landers said enthusiastically.
Neighbors who spoke with 10News hope harsher punishment is implemented to keep their community clean.
"Maybe if they catch them and make an example of them, maybe they'll slow it down a little, cut it down a little," Ochoa said.
"Go somewhere else and do it, not our city," Landers said.
You can go online to Escondido's website or download the Report It app to submit a report to get graffiti cleaned up.
