An Ocean Beach neighborhood is divided. And it all started with good intentions.
Someone carved nasty messages onto a slab of concrete. But a neighbor trying to make others aware of it is feeling extreme backlash.
Juan Viella tried to scrape away hatred over the weekend.
“I came across a new pour of concrete with some nasty messages,” he said.
The messages were political, racist, and vulgar.
"Trump 2016."
"Build the wall."
"F*** Bernie."
"No fa*** , OBSS" -- SS being a Nazi reference.
Viella said, “It could be a pointless act of vandalism or a pretty direct point.." -- A direct point that he may be living among neighbors on Lotus near Sunset Cliffs who he said may harbor some ugly beliefs.
Viella may never find out. Even though most of the engravings are scraped off, their impact is still swirling in Viella's head.
“The people visiting our community, I don't want this to represent us as a community.”
He posted the engravings on the Ocean Beach Crime Watch Facebook page and is surprised by the brutal backlash.
“The purpose of me posting it on OB Crime Watch was to make people aware of what's going on in our streets. And instead I have the opposite response. I feel like I'm splitting up the community even more.”
We asked him if there was one engraved message that was the most hurtful.
“All of them. If you can't love your fellow neighbor then what's left of humanity.”
