State hate crime? Calif. transplants react to graffiti incident

Gold-colored graffiti covers the house and car of Portland transplants Jessica Faraday and Preston Page. The couple moved to Oregon from Southern California in February and found their property vandalized Sunday morning. less Gold-colored graffiti covers the house and car of Portland transplants Jessica Faraday and Preston Page. The couple moved to Oregon from Southern California in February and found their property vandalized ... more Photo: Courtesy Jessica Faraday Photo: Courtesy Jessica Faraday Image 1 of / 19 Caption Close State hate crime? Calif. transplants react to graffiti incident 1 / 19 Back to Gallery

After experiencing an audacious bout of California hatred in the form of spray painted missives, one couple is determined not to let it ruin their outlook on Portland.

Jessica Faraday and her fiance Preston Page awoke Sunday to find their car and home covered in graffiti, not-so-subtly telling the Southern California couple to leave town.

While it's easy to chalk up this story as a burning (or spray painted) example of Oregon's supposed longstanding dislike of California transplants, Faraday said that up until this incident, she has felt their adopted hometown was welcoming towards them.

"We have such a great community and such great neighbors," Faraday said in an interview with SFGATE. "This was one person who obviously is uneducated as to what is really happening in Portland. I can understand that there is some tension with people surrounding the housing market, the job market, things like that, but if you look at it, we have very large corporations that have multiple employees and they bring in employees from other places ... and that's what happened in our case."

Page, 32, and Faraday, 34, moved to Oregon back in February, when Page's job with Portland-based Adidas forced the couple to relocate. The tagging incident is, in the couple's opinion, more related to a road rage incident from Saturday, with the message fixating on one thing: the California license plates on Faraday's car.

"He made a statement," Faraday said of the vandal. "He really thought about the statements he was going to write on the car, you know what I mean? That's where it affects me. There's somebody in my neighborhood who doesn't want me here and ... I worry every time a car drives by and it resembles the [car from Saturday's altercation].

"Do I feel like a victim of a hate crime? Not at all," Faraday later added. "I feel like the victim of a really big — hole. I love all people and I just want everyone to be happy; I would hate for this to be scrawled across somebody else's home and car and for them to feel vulnerable in the community."

Still, the influx of non-natives has stretched the patience of those who have called Portland home for decades. A recent article noted that the population of Portland increased 148 percent since 1968 to its current total of approximately 630,000 residents — making it the 26th largest city in the United States.

Despite how locals may feel about it, there are indicators that the growth of transplants to Portland is slowing. Last year's figures from the U.S. Census Bureau show that 9,249 people have moved to the City of Roses, which is lower when compared to 2014 and 2015 numbers, according to Willamette Week.

The story has certainly found traction outside of Oregon and California, with outsiders taking a look at what may have spurred such a public display of discrimination. Faraday attributed the story's popularity to the visualness and brazenness of the incident, acknowledging that there must certainly be some folks who feel that Californians are having a negative impact on Oregon.

"I think when people see it written on a car in gold spray paint, that's a big, big effect," Faraday said. "That's in your face. That could be your house, that could be your car — people would be horrified to wake up to that. You imagine people from California or other states are living in Portland thinking, 'Oh my goodness, that could have been my house this morning.'"

"We have an opportunity to squash this now, before things like this turn into an actual hate crime, to people with other religions or to people from other countries," Faraday continued. "I look at Portland as a place that is very very accepting of people of all ages, all race, all colors and that's something that I really love about the city."

Faraday said that since the discovery of the vandalism, Page has tackled the task of repainting the house and the couple installed security cameras to help prevent against future incidents. The car and its damage — which includes a broken side mirror and deep scratches to the paint, alongside the graffiti — will soon be repaired. Neighbors have also come by to help soothe some of the pain, Faraday noted, with a few bearing welcoming gifts, such as food and bottles of wine.

"We've had such a great experience moving here and buying our first home together, it's a wonderful community," Faraday said. "The fact that everybody has pulled together after this happened just proves that we're in the right place and ... I'm tempted to paint my car gold, just in protest."