The East Oakland house nestled between the Diamond District and Glenview had been in David Sparks’ family for more than 20 years when he became its owner in 1996. This October, Sparks and his partner, Casey Dolan, decorated their first-floor entrance with a colorful mural sympathetic to the Occupy Oakland cause, garnering thumbs-up from their neighbors and the occasional, encouraging honk from passing motorists.

Evidently, someone felt it was now time the house get yet another paint job. Returning home around 9 a.m. Friday morning, December 8, from roughly 20 minutes of errands, Sparks’ son found the mural gone, covered by a “poop brown” coat of paint, fresh enough to smell and tacky to the touch. “We knew when we painted our building that we might receive some attention, but until Friday it had all been positive,” says Dolan.

The mural, inspired by Occupy Oakland’s call for a November 2 general strike, invited passersby to: “Occupy Oakland! Occupy Wall St! Change the World.” Who deemed it worthy of a rushed, unannounced cover-up remains unclear.

“I feel as if this was not a random act by a city employee,” says Sparks.

Although the couple has never received any notice, phone call or citation from the city, neighbors claim to have seen police taking photos of the house on several occasions throughout the past month.

While the possibility remains this was the work of a rogue vigilante with a penchant for unremarkable browns, Dolan and Sparks say the clues suggest otherwise.  The paint over used the same brown paint applied to municipal trashcans and lampposts in the neighborhood.

 “When I first saw it, it made me real angry, and violated,” says Sparks. “I happen to love this city, I was born and raised here, and it angered me that I can’t express myself politically on my own property. The police and government of this city have been so mismanaged for so long that they overstep their boundaries all the time. But when it happens to your own personal property, it gets, well, personal.”

Dolan began making phone calls Friday afternoon to try to find out if the city had a role, starting with the City of Oakland’s general phone line. From here she was directed to City Attorney Kevin Siegel, who referred her to the Keep Oakland Beautiful Board, the non-profit affiliate handling graffiti removal.

“He said it sounded like I will be wanting to file a claim against the city, but the next move absolutely depends on what happens on Monday,” says Dolan. “I always hope my city will eventually do the right thing. I hope that the upside of this debacle is a dialogue about what is happening regarding the occupy movement and the City of Oakland’s response to it.”

So, as a new week begins, Dolan and Sparks look forward to hearing from Keep Oakland Beautiful (for starters) to find out if this was a simple mistake or a case of orders coming from “somewhere higher-up.”