Approximately 40 of the hanging planters along San Benito Street, from Fourth to South streets, were found vandalised on the morning of Nov. 4. Only four planters were untouched.
The suspect was identified as Matthew Goodsell, a transient, according to Hollister Police Sergeant Aurelio Melgoza.
Melgoza said that at approximately 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 4, Hollister Police responded to a call that the planters along San Benito Street had been damaged.
He said Hollister Senior Patrol Officer Theresa Aguilera reviewed video surveillance from the city’s downtown camera system and recognized the suspect to be Goodsell, who had been arrested four times in the past month. He said Goodsell was seen walking from Fourth Street to South Street breaking and damaging the planters on the evening of Nov. 3.
Melgoza said Goodwell was already in custody for a different charge when the police identified him as a suspect.
“So he is currently in custody for that [previous] charge, and now we are booking him on felony vandalism in regards to the city property that was damaged,” Melgoza said.
Marci Huston, owner of The GardenMart nursery in Hollister, said the plants were found in their broken containers on the ground. The hooks that hold the planters remained hanging from the poles.
“The planters are pretty high up, so it seemed like he grabbed a chair from one of the business’s parklets for the planters that he couldn’t reach,” Melgoza explained.
The GardenMart, which grew and prepared the plants, has a contract with the city to service its outdoor plants in front of San Benito Street businesses. Melgoza estimated that the vandalism caused $3,000 in damages.
Workers with the city met with GardenMart manager Nick Huston on Nov. 4 and salvaged the plants before they died. Huston said he is hopeful they will survive in new containers.
“It takes so long to grow them, if we don’t [replant them] now we won’t be able to do it until maybe April,” Marci said, noting that growing sustainable plants this time of year is not feasible.
“It’s not like just pulling stuff off of a shelf. We’re hoping to have them back up right next week, and hopefully some will be back up earlier.”
Brett Miller, Hollister city manager, called the vandalism “horrible.”
“We try to improve and beautify our downtown with plants, parklets and other enhancements just to have someone ruin it for everyone else,” he said.
Marci said the vandalism affects not only GardenMart and the city of Hollister, but all of the businesses downtown. Hope Services, for instance, waters the plants every week.
“Everybody has a little bit of love going into them,” she said.
“It just takes so much time to take care of those things,” Marci said. “It’s not just like a bicycle getting stolen. You can just run out to wherever and buy another bike for this. But this? This you just can’t quickly recreate.”
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