City officials are investigating a swastika painted on a boarded-up building on Cottage Avenue, an image that may have been there for more than five years.
A local resident, who wished to remain anonymous, reported seeing the graffiti, which was painted on the old Vernco building on the east side of Cottage Avenue between 22nd and 23rd streets.
The building, which has broken out windows along with some that are boarded up, was once a location for plastic components manufacturing in the early 1900s.
Aida Ramirez, Columbus Human Rights Commission director, said the city’s first action will be to reach out to the owners of the building to determine how to get it removed. The property tax bill for the property goes to an out-of-state address in Ohio and the owners have not been reached yet, she said.
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After making some checks made about the building, Ramirez said she believes the image may have been on the building for some time as it was picked up by Google mapping photography at the building’s address, 1804 22nd St., in 2014. The image is fairly small, less than 2 feet by 2 feet, and isn’t readily visible to those who drive by the building.
In some previous incidents involving public property, the city has sent workers out with a power washer and chemical paint remover to take the images off of public buildings or city sidewalks, she said.
In one of those incidents, owners of a property within the city had discovered messages of an obscene nature spray-painted on a city sidewalk near their business and asked the city to remove it, which the city cleaned up, she said.
Columbus police are asking individuals to report this type of graffiti to the department on a non-emergency number so that officers can document it for a police report.
Police do go out to photograph the graffiti before it is cleaned and residents are encouraged to report this type of vandalism to the department’s front desk at 812-376-2600, said Lt. Matt Harris, Columbus Police Department spokesman. Any gang-related graffiti should also be reported to police before it is cleaned or painted over, he said.
The most recent incidents of race-related graffiti occurred in August 2014 when three Columbus churches were spray painted.
In that case, East Columbus Christian Church, 3170 Indiana Ave., St. Bartholomew Catholic Church, 1306 27th St. and Lakeview Church of Christ, 4040 N. County Road 150W had the word “infidels” spray painted on the buildings along with different Quran references on each building. Church members and volunteers cleaned up the spray painting after reporting the incident to Columbus police.
Columbus police have been notified about the Vernco building graffiti, Ramirez said.
She encouraged residents to report any incidents of race-related, gang-related or threatening graffiti to the Columbus Police Department and the Columbus Human Rights Commission.
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To report incidents of graffiti, including those involving race-related issues or threatening messages, call the Columbus Police Department at 812-376-2600.
The Columbus Human Rights Commission may be contacted at 812-376-2532.
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