It been tough for the family-run small businesses on Dundas Street east of Kellogg Lane ever since construction of London’s bus rapid transit (BRT) route closed all four lanes connecting to Highbury Avenue. Arriving to work on Wednesday morning, things went from bad to worse. At least three businesses were victimized by an overnight vandalism spree that was caught on security video. At Dundas Auto Sales, Mario Fatibene spent much of the day cleaning graffiti from the front of his dealership, including racial slurs, and vulgar references to the LGBTQ2S+ community written in both blue paint and black marker. “They tried to kick the door down. They couldn’t get in the building, we got them on camera,” he tells CTV News. [It] didn’t break [because] we got tempered glass there. Thank God, because they would have hurt themselves. But the whole glass front of our building has been tagged.” Security footage captured four vandals spray painting the dealership before moving down the block to deface other businesses and a commercial van. Fatibene says the long-vacant former McCormick Beta Brands cookie factory has become a magnet for graffiti in the area. “Tear it down for God’s sake!” he urges city officials. He says the situation worsened when Dundas Street was closed in both directions between McCormick Boulevard and Highbury Avenue for construction of the bus rapid transit (BRT) system. Fatibene explains there are fewer eyes on the street, “There’s no traffic along here, so in the middle of the night anybody can be walking along [Dundas] causing all sorts of trouble.” In fact, the security video shows the vandals temporarily stop spray painting when a pedestrian approached the area on the sidewalk. Once the pedestrian rounded the corner, they resumed their attack on the businesses. Fatibene believes the four vandals came to the area to spray graffiti on the former cookie factory, then traveled west down Dundas targeting the small businesses. He points out a four-letter tag ‘D-O-L-O’ was spayed in blue paint on a crane in front of the factory. The same tag, in the same colour, was painted on the front of his car dealership before the vandals walked westbound out of the camera’s field of view. “What’s this mayor doing about it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing,” Fatibene fumes about the latest impact to his business, after surviving years of road construction, “You’re the head of the city. You’re responsible to do something about this!” In a statement, London Mayor Josh Morgan said he fully understands the frustration, and will reach out to Fatibene to begin a dialogue. Morgan wrote, “The behaviour described, the property damage and graffiti is unacceptable. There are options available to help address these issues, and I am always ready to find solutions.” In the meantime, the businesses continue to take steps to protect their properties. “We can’t even leave our cars outside in the parking lot like a normal dealership. We are forced to bring them inside at night,” Fatibene explained. CTV News has yet to receive a response from London Police Service about whether an investigation has been launched into the vandalism spree.
