BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
The city of Mountain View will allow people living in their RVs to park on at least three miles of city streets at all times, according to a settlement agreement signed by the two sides.
This map shows where they can park.
Officers will begin ticketing and towing RVs on all other streets starting on Saturday.
They’ll give RV dwellers three day’s notice before their vehicle is towed, and they’ll hand out a map showing where the RV dwellers can go, according to the settlement.
The streets that are open to RVs can change, but there must always be at least three miles available for parking. The settlement is effective for four years.
“The outcome of the case is good because without this settlement, we would be facing the threat of displacement,” lead plaintiff Celerina Navarro said in a statement. “Now people can feel more at ease knowing that they can remain in Mountain View without being displaced.”
The settlement allows the city to begin enforcing Measure C, which was passed in 2020 by 57% of voters.
The measure prohibited vehicles wider or taller than seven feet from parking on streets that have bike lanes or are less than 40 feet wide. The prohibition applies to 470 of the city’s 525 streets.
The ACLU and the nonprofit Law Foundation of Silicon Valley filed a class-action lawsuit on behalf of people living in their RVs in July 2021, before enforcement began.
They argued that Measure C is unconstitutional by threatening people with unreasonable seizures, excessive fines and restrictions on their free movement.
In response, retired City Attorney Krishan Chopra said the RV dwellers’ constitutional rights “do not extend anywhere near as far as they assert,” and that Measure C was about traffic safety.
“The real purpose of this litigation is to secure a right to indefinitely locate their oversized vehicles on their preferred roadways, regardless of any dangers this may pose,” Chopra said.
The two sides still have to work out who will pay attorney’s fees, and federal Judge Nathanael Cousins has to sign off on the settlement.
In Mt. View and elsewhere, large unused parking lots of private companies and real estate investors should be declared a public attractive nuisance when there are homeless people, whether or not living in vehicles. Without compromise. Cities should provide mobile utilities to help habitation. Let the home residents have their streets. Homeless people should stand their ground against police and their pocket mental character assassins. Who gave the ACLU attorneys authority to create a class action settlement? Isn’t unauthorized practice supposed to be a misdemeanor (?) Or is that just for the dissidents who the powers-that-be do not like?
One question: Who cleans up the poo in these parking lots?