Woman takes her signs to the streets

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154 days ago: Belmont evicts scribbling resident

(Cindy Chew/The Examiner)
Estrella Benavides, who is being sued for signs covering both of her homes, is now broadcasting her messages on the corner of El Camino Real and Ralston Avenue in Belmont.

San Mateo County (Map, News) - A woman sued by two cities for covering her homes with painted signs about government abuse and conspiracy theories has assembled a bike contraption to broadcast her messages on a busy Peninsula street corner.

Estrella Benavides, 49, has been comparing herself with Britney Spears — because, she said, they both had their children taken away by the “mafia,” or the U.S. Government — at the corner of El Camino Real and Ralston Avenue in Belmont since June 10.

San Mateo and Belmont sued Benavides for code violations when she refused to take down hand-painted messages about Cuba, rape and Scott Peterson that covered her homes in those cities. She also paints the messages, written in mostly broken English and keywords, over nearly every square inch of her two cars.

As she spends what are perhaps her final days in her foreclosed-upon Belmont home at 3416 Beresford Ave., she has been riding a pink bike with a basket and cart three miles to El Camino Real and Ralston Avenue. There, she has been waving a yellow umbrella — also covered with painted signs — and parking her bike, which props up more signs, while waving to drivers.

She also has images of her 5-year-old child’s bruised body on the bike contraption, along with the words “advertise” and “3416 Beresford.” She wears elbow and ankle pads, leopard-print pants, a smock and a farmer’s hat, and she has two metal objects pierced through her lips.

Benavides said she stands there because she has no money and she wants God to save her and return her child to her. She said she does not work and has been without money since last year.

“I used to be very responsible. I used to work,” Benavides said.

She said she plans to continue to visit the intersection for about four hours at a time when she is not doing laundry or other activities.

“They will not stop me. My child needs me, and God will help me,” she said.

Belmont’s lawsuit is still pending and a trial date has been set for later this year, said Lance Bayer, the city’s special counsel for the case. Benavides has elected to represent herself. If new owners move into the house and take down the signs before the trial begins, as expected, the case will be dropped, Bayer said. Benavides also lost her home at 1864 Cottage Ave. in San Mateo through foreclosure.

mrosenberg@sfexaminer.com

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