Veteran steps up to restore vandalized Pleasant Hill 9-11 memorial

PLEASANT HILL -- In Pleasant Hill, neighbors were shocked to find the Twin Towers Memorial defaced, covered in graffiti.  Instead of waiting for a city department to clean it up, a military veteran stepped up to do what he could to restore it.  

Israel Masallo is a dad and a military veteran. He served in the California National Guard from 2000 to 2008.  

"I served 8 years and I was deployed in Iraq in '04 and '05," Massallo said.

Just steps away from his own house, sits a reminder honoring the many service members and civilians lost.  

"A lot of people, like myself, joined the military because of what happened on September 11," Massallo said.

When he saw the Twin Towers Memorial on Camelback Road vandalized, emotions overwhelmed him. 

"It was completely spray painted in orange and it was completely covered," Massallo explained.  "It made me feel frustrated that someone would go and do something like this."

With a bucket, sponges and some elbow grease, Massallo did what he could to remove the graffiti himself.  

"I did what I can to clean this up," Massallo said. "It still needs work. Memorials like this mean a lot to people, they should not be vandalized, or defaced."

 "Stuff like this is disrespectful, it should be off limits. It is important to remember the lives that were lost."

Michelle Lacy, the General Manager of Pleasant Hill Recreation & Park District, said in a statement to KPIX:

"As you can imagine dealing with graffiti removal on public park property is an almost daily occurrence with some instances being more damaging than others. The goal with graffiti removal from public property is to address it as soon as we are aware and remove the graffiti or tagging. The initial concern is to make sure that we can remove the graffiti to the point of rendering it illegible without damage to the property.

At this point the graffiti on the memorial has been removed to render it illegible and as you can see from the attached photo that removal has discolored/damaged the concrete. Staff is working on a potential remedy to remove the rest of the staining on the porous surface as well as the plaque without further damage. Porous surfaces such as the concrete at the memorial is the most difficult surface to remove graffiti and/or paint since porous surfaces hold onto the paint and removing the stains will most likely result in damage to the property.

Our maintenance staff is trying to remove the remaining remnants without further damage to the plaques and concrete. If we cannot find a remedy, then we will look at options to replace the concrete and reset the plaques. Of course, replacing the memorial will be a larger project, but the District is committed to restoring the memorial to its original condition."

Massallo is not the first veteran to lend a hand at this memorial garden. The Twin Towers Memorial Park is a community effort, with neighborhood volunteers helping with its gardening maintenance since its creation in 2002.  

Bill Richmond, a Maine veteran and accomplished landscape artist and gardener, spearheaded the creation of this park through donations from neighborhoods and the local Trader Joe's.

 Richmond also designed and planted the garden around the memorial statue that people can still visit to pay tribute to the victims of 9/11.