A Penticton business owner is speaking out after his business was hit with what he’s calling “senseless vandalism.”
Axel Hasenkox, owner of OP Office Products, is fed up with the “unreasonable” behaviour he frequently sees around his Duncan Avenue business near Penticton Plaza.
Hasenkox was shocked Monday (Nov. 23) to discover someone had apparently tagged the top of his building in broad daylight during store hours.
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Hasenkox said he and his co-workers thought they heard “birds on the roof” before they ventured outside and discovered the crude graffiti.
“The sad part is people don’t think of the consequences when they do this. It’s hard enough to own a business at this time,” Hasenkox said.
He estimates it will cost $5,000.
“We called the RCMP because this is an ongoing thing where people who hate everything go around tagging,” said Hasenkox.
| Axel Hasenkox, owner of OP Office Products in Penticton, is fed up after his store was tagged by an unknown person Monday Nov. 23, 2020. (Jesse Day – Western News) |
Overall, he’s growing tired with the seemingly never-ending stream of vagrant and delinquent behaviour in the area surrounding his business.
Hasenkox has owned OP Office Products for 25 years. He said owning a business in downtown Penticton has gotten harder and harder as years have passed.
Constantly finding drug paraphernalia littered around his shop and crossing paths with people sleeping on his store’s doorstep when he opens in the morning has Hasenkox fed up.
“The problem is there aren’t enough police to cover everything all the time… however there aren’t enough consequences for people doing stupid things either,” he said.
Hasenkox said he’s just going to have to put up with the graffiti on his store for now until he’s able to remove it.
“Right now we’re in a tough spot because it’s too cold to paint and we’d need a cherry picker to get up there,” he said. “We’re trying to keep things reasonable but it’s just gotten worse and worse over the years.
“As time goes on I’ve become less and less sympathetic because it’s costing more and more.”
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jesse.day@pentictonwesternnews.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
