I really don't understand the approach the city is taking with this issue. They really didn't seem concerned at first, even when local residents were complaining. In fact, they brought in portable toilets and sinks in the parking lot at Rengstorff Park. No one seemed concerned that residents belongings were strewn all over the side of the road. Now they've suddenly decided to enforce the parking violators and tow the motor homes? I agree that this is a huge issue, especially for those living in apartments on Crisanto who have this in their front yard. I'd like to see the city come up with a comprehensive plan to deal with this issue.

“Their quality of life will go up when they start getting services and are able to be more independent," a quote from the homeless outreach officer. I guess this is what happens when police supervisors think your efforts are not working and they resort back to all they know....enforcement. Unfortunately, if the beat officers took note of these vehicles when there were one or two and took action then it wouldn't have grown to the problem it is now. I am sure that they thought that parking enforcement was to petty for them not realizing that they would have to worker harder in the future. Bringing a team of city workers to a location on the same day of course would lead to a story like this. One officer towing one vehicle and no one would have noticed. Maybe Mountain View needs to take a lesson from the Los Altos Police playbook and take seriously the small things before they become a big thing. So a message to whoever is making the decisions, “Their quality of life will go up when they start getting services and are able to be more independent," meaning you need to get these people living in vehicles a place to go and a whole lot of services otherwise enforcement is just a bandaid on a trama size wound.

Now it is much harder for everyone involved when the laws of the land get enforced. They should have nipped this in the bud 5-7 years ago. There is no doubt that others who have been continually reading stories about how people are doing this with no repercussions, have been emboldened to try it for themselves, causing the issue to explode.
We still need enforcement, we still need laws, I just wished the issue of people living on the streets was handled better years ago.
The upside is that as enforcement grows and continues (hopefully!) people will begin to understand living on the streets might not be the best bet.

I TOTALLY support these RV dwellers being able to live in their rigs in RV parks or otherwise. Not in the streets though....not in these "Pop-up" street dwelling encampments.

Thank you Mvpd for dealing with this problem. I live in the apartments on Crisanto and it has been such a nightmare to walk out to this new rv park. I know those rv vehicles leak sewage because we smell it if the wind blows our way. Thank you thank you for a hard job you do. Everyone here at the apartments support mvpd.

We have no parking in this area of Crisanto Avenue. It has been taken over by motorhomes. They make a mess of the area and have an unbelievable sense of entitlement. I appreciate this City finally enforcing some laws. From my family we say thanks and god bless.

Anyone notice the increase of mobilhomes on Shoreline Blvd.

They'll keep living in their RVs in another part of mountain view. There are RVs pretty much everywhere.

Im so over this issue. They have taken up areas and many are slobs. Hey City...how about some kind of law to prevent this??? Always awesome to blame coppers for our problems isnt it?! Are these rv parks on our roads paying the insane taxes we pay to live here? Or are they paying to clean up their own mess and sewage leaks? C'mon now!

In response to Resident of Bailey Park - yes, I too have recently noticed a large number of RVs parked on Shoreline in the half-mile stretch between Church St. and Dana St. I wonder what caused this change. Crackdowns in other parts of the city, maybe?

I sympathize with residents who don't want their neighborhoods overrun with smelly, leaky RVs, but I think the police need to be more compassionate when considering a drastic action like taking someone's home away. The folks living in vehicles need better options. There are many vacant lots in Mountain View - couldn't some of them be repurposed as trailer parks, for which the need is obviously skyrocketing (due to the sad lack of affordable housing in our city)?

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While I feel for many of these people who don't want to relocate to areas with a lower cost of living, this needed to be done. The city has made the problem worse by taking a hands-off approach for so long, under the guise of being "sensitive". As the article points out, many of these RVs are not in habitable condition, don't move regularly as required by law, and facilitate all sorts of nefarious activities in what should be quiet neighborhoods. It is good to see MVPD finally taking action to return the streets to their intended use (not long-term housing). Hopefully the enforcement will move quickly to the parks and Shoreline Blvd.

I find the current situation incredibly sad. I am sympathetic to renters who have been displaced and cannot afford anything more than a vehicle in which to live. I fully support the tolerant attitude Mountain View officials have displayed up to now. I also understand that specific violations must be handled efficiently for public safety reasons. I frequently pass both Crisanto and Latham's improvised RV areas, and I agree that they are sometimes left less neat than one would wish--but that should not be a civic priority. When sewage leaks, the boundary has been crossed into an actionable public safety issue. I wish that the police had handled it more compassionately, perhaps delivering warnings alongside social workers and other community agency representatives to assist in locating the vehicles' inhabitants.

what about the RV's parked on Terra Bella and San Rafael? Will the City wait until it becomes intolerable like Crisanto Street?

I appreciate that the police are directing their attention only to those who are creating a mess, and leaving alone RVs that are keeping their surroundings orderly and safe.

I wonder if there's isn't any community organization helping these residents repair their RVs to prevent leaks?

Seeing large vehicles and dealing less parking are a small price to pay to be more compassionate as long as these vehicles are not a health danger or source of crime to their neighbors. Police are doing their best to balance interests.

"I find the current situation incredibly sad. I am sympathetic to renters who have been displaced and cannot afford anything more than a vehicle in which to live. "

Me too; it's terrible. At the same time I always wonder why they put up with it. Low-paying jobs are available everywhere, so why not relocate to somewhere with a saner housing costs? (Except for the couple who came to our city from far away expressly for the purpose of living the "Mountain View RV lifestyle" :P )

"The folks living in vehicles need better options. There are many vacant lots in Mountain View - couldn't some of them be repurposed as trailer parks, for which the need is obviously skyrocketing (due to the sad lack of affordable housing in our city)?"

And/or couldn't we help some of them relocate to regions where they could afford a more comfortable standard of living on their modest incomes?

Better late than never that the City of Mountain View finally enforce the law instead of bending to politically correctness ... the gutters are nasty and full of sewage that ends up in the bay after a good rain ... and the street in question is across from a City park and close to the Mountain View Senior Center, both of which should be available to the public without having to use nose plugs ...

Actually, most crimes in MV are committed not by RV dwellers, but by people living in houses, apartments, condos, multiplexes and the like. Why do they live here? Because there are businesses and people with money to pay them. Moving an hour or three away would be cheaper, but spending 1/2 the day commuting is just not a good option.

It saddens me to see the words "Common Sense" used as a Name here in Town Square. It implies that most everyone is in agreement, when actually their opinion is a right-wing and under-educated local minority.

We have an RV that won't fit in our driveway, we don't live in it. There is no available RV storage or RV parks around here for miles. We are on a couple of waiting lists that are too long to even hope we will get in one. It is very frustrating.

I feel sorry for these people, but leaking sewage and leaving trash puts them on the public's radar. They are not even trying to make peace with the neighborhood they live in. It is probably not everybody, but it only takes a few to ruin it for everyone.

I'm a bit saddened by this development. I'd hoped that the City could find a place for these folks to go so that they could live safely and have the services they need. For those that have asked, as I understand it, the reason the City has not been able to do more before this week was that the towing company that was contracted to do the hauling was not willing to do this work. The RVs are often difficult to move, are damaged and leak sewage, and aren't able to be auctioned in the cases where owners cannot pay for them. In those cases, the towing company is stuck with the vehicle. This problem was apparently solved with the new contract, hence towing has commenced. However, I do hope they find other ways to solve this problem. Many, if not most, of these RV owners have jobs, and work but just can't afford housing here.

The MVPD addressed this in a Facebook post yesterday. Here’s their post:



We are so fortunate to serve a city that celebrates diversity and determination, where residents champion things great and small every day. We’re honored to protect and serve you, and we wanted to take a moment to shed some light on our efforts to create a comfortable and safe environment for everyone.

Today, you may have read that two of our officers with our Neighborhood and Event Services Unit towed a handful of vehicles – including two RVs. Please know, we do not do such things lightly. Out of a risk to public health, we towed the two RVs after we learned that they were leaking raw sewage onto the street. Three more vehicles – all cars – were towed after being repeatedly told to move from their current location.

Several warnings and citations were issued over several weeks, with a final notification given last week to give people ample time to move. We also made several attempts to connect these residents with services by referring them to organizations such as the Community Services Agency. But, when we arrived on Tuesday to check in, the vehicles had not moved and raw sewage was still leaking onto the street. Because of the public health hazard and the fact that the vehicles had not moved for at least five days (and some had been stationary for even longer), we had to have them towed. It was also reported that a family with children was displaced due to the tows. For clarification, there was no evidence of children associated with any of the towed vehicles and we have no evidence to suggest that any families were displaced. When we come across these situations, we make every effort to connect families and children to appropriate social services.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a noticeable increase in homelessness, and with that we have seen an increase in a need for our department to adapt to better address and assist this growing population. This increase is not just something that has happened in Mountain View – it’s something that is happening throughout the Bay Area.

As such, we created a unique role within the department – the Community Outreach Officer. The role, which is part of our Neighborhood and Event Services Unit, is designed specifically to act as a liaison between the department and vital services that operate right here in our community –such as CSA -- to best serve these individuals and families. Officer Mike Taber, the first officer to be assigned to this role, has been working daily to help these folks know how and where to go should they require services such as housing options and medical needs.

Solving the entirety of the struggles that result from homelessness can be a monumental effort, but that in no way has deterred the City of Mountain View and the Mountain View Police Department from enacting a compassionate, holistic approach. To see more on what efforts we have implemented and what they entail, visit Web Link

As we have begun meeting daily with residents, resident groups and other stakeholders who want to discuss how to best address improving the livelihood of those affected by homelessness, we have also been made aware of certain concerns. We know of instances where teenagers are cat-called as they are walking home by certain individuals who live in RVs on Crisanto Avenue. We are aware that there are a select few who are taking advantage of living out of a car or an RV to sell drugs and to intimidate other members of the RV community. Today, for example, we had to arrest a woman after we discovered she was selling heroin out of her RV that was stationed in Cuesta Park next to where children were having a picnic. We want everyone to feel safe, and this type of behavior is unacceptable.

We serve every resident, and we want you to know that if you need help, we are here for you. We want everyone to enjoy everything our wonderful community has to offer, and while homelessness is not an issue that is solved quickly, we know that by working together, we can try and do so with the upmost compassion and understanding. We also want to ensure in every way possible that our city is safe. That is what our residents expect, and that is what they deserve.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out. We can be reached at police@mountainview.gov or on Facebook, Twitter or Nextdoor.

Every time I drive past one of these clusters of RV's, I wonder how many of them illegally and routinely empty their waste collection tanks into local storm sewers. That would be pretty easy to do. Just park next to one and do it at about 2 AM, then immediately drive away and park somewhere else until the tank fills again. Has the MVPD or whomever enforces local sanitation laws been looking into this? If not, then they should be --- human nature being what it is among nomadic cultures like these.

@William Hitchens,

Wait, you actually think about raw sewage EVERY time you drive past some RVs? How much is there to think about? Sounds like you have some strange preoccupations, especially since you've apparently gamed out an entire scheme involving raw sewage dumping. Perhaps MVPD should investigate you...

@LOL,

Dumping sewage is a serious public health issue. Both San Diego and LA counties are experiencing outbreaks of hepatitis A. San Diego is actually power-washing their streets with bleach, because they've become so "fecally contaminated."

Web Link

I know, Irina! And William here has outlined his detailed plan for how he would illegally dump raw sewage, yet MVPD is failing to investigate!

Thank you Irina for reminding LOL and others of the San Diego health crisis.
Thank you MVPD for protecting all of us.
I feel sorry for people who are struggling to make ends meet, and I regularly support homeless causes. But endangering others with disrespectful behavior such as dumping sewage, trashing public spaces and intimidating passers by are not welcome in any of our neighborhoods.

Everyone here is eliding an extremely important point for why the San Diego Hep A outbreak occurred: the city of San Diego has almost no public restrooms. By ignoring a problem facing the homeless in San Diego, they created a health crisis that has killed people. Maybe one of us bright folks in Mountain View can think of the problems we're ignoring, and brainstorm some solutions that don't involve removing people's only home?

Or we can be like William above and fantasize about raw sewage and how we'd illegally dump it, and extol the virtues of punishing the less fortunate for the problems we've caused as a community.

San Diego (and Santa Barbara) have comprehensive programs for vehicle dwellers. San Diego also has one of the largest number of homeless. All vehicle dwellers are registered and spend the night in a centrally located parking lot with services and facilities. Only during the day are they allowed on city streets. This assures the vehicles are driveable, registered etc. These programs were investigated by MV city staff. As long as we don't provide a dump station and access to water we should not be surprised about street contamination. We are also not distinguishing between trailers and vehicles, both are parked on numerous streets. What is keeping the next entrepreneur from parking mobile homes on city streets. We already have RV landlords.
By not having precise guidelines we are only leaving our MVPD in "cleaning up" the mess....

@LOL

A gentle admonition. Public dumping of sewage and deliberate discharge of waste into streets & storm sewers are not laughing matters, particularly not "LOL" matters. They are illegal and violate both public health and environmental pollution laws.

William, that's just my username. I think this is quite a serious matter, especially since we have a man, clearly fixated on raw sewage, posting here his detailed plans for illegally dumping waste. Why won't MVPD investigate this man?

I find it disheartening how many of our posts, from the comfort of our homes, focus on laying blame at the feet of poor people for living in leaky dwellings that can hardly be called "housing" and applaud the money spent on loosening their precarious grip on survival. Sanctuary City Indeed! How is towing away poor people's homes so they are "out of sight" any different than throwing them over the border? Human beings living in conditions so tenuous can ill afford $150 to repair sewage hoses let alone bear the burden of tickets, fines, and hocking their homes out of impound. Go look at these people -- you know them because they serve your food, repair your cars and give you manicures and you are fine with that. Poverty is not the enemy - apathy and NIMBYism is. For the cost the City is spending ticketing and towing and the time Concerned Citizens spend applauding these efforts, we could lend a hand to making these homes minimally livable. For about the cost of taking our families out to a nice dinner, basic repairs can be made to a leaky RV so that somebody else's family is not homeless.

My husband and I are willing to donate $500 to helping make basic repairs to help struggling local families stay in their RVs. We need help calling on the City Council to provide a reasonable place for families to legally park their "homes" until permanent solutions are found. City of Mountain View, will we organize help for our local community or will we allow the "criminalization of poverty" to clear our conscience of any responsibility toward others? Let's direct resources and our collective sense of frustration to helping people, not sweeping them out of the way.

The street is still full of RVs, I drove past today. Rather than donate $500, how about inviting the RVs to park in front of your house? Don't worry, the sewage, drug sales and prostitution are just a minor annoyance.

What is with this obsession to "help people stay in their RV's"? That's not compassion, that's an incredibly misguided ideology. I don't get it. Maybe it makes you feel good? Thinking you're "helping" people? How is continually keeping them suppressed and in sub-standard living conditions in any way "good"?

The MVPD provided specific examples of leaking sewage and drug sales. These are not our "working people". They need to go.

Why is it that towns like Los Altos and Atherton don't have this issue?? We all know the answer, the affluent will not tolerate such behavior. Yet the apartment dwellers and small business owners in Mountain View (and commercial areas of PA) just have to deal with it. Is quality of life more important for a person who owns a $6 Million dollar home vs a person living in an apartment? Well, evidently it is. Honestly if I had to live in an RV, I would choose one of the leafy wide quiet streets in Atherton. Lovely area. Wish someone would give that a try.

This is why MV needs to encourage more development of apartments and condos, to further stabilize the housing market, and increase the numbers of middle- and upper-middle class population.

When people can envision themselves staying long-term in a community, guess what? They CARE about what happens to that community. They care about RV dwellers, crowded schools, airplane noise, urban blight, etc.

On the other hand, if one can only envision themselves getting priced out, there is very little incentive to do anything but shrug, and think about where to move next.

@Irina, you're exactly right about the importance of having a community where people care about their town, their community and their neighbors. We also need a city council that cares about community and quality of life in our city, and not just about their own agenda. But increasing the numbers of middle- and upper-middle class population is exactly what got us to where we are now. Over the past several years there's been a massive influx of high-income people who come here solely to take a job, and certainly not because they care about our community.

Today around noon there was a fire in an RV off Leghorn and San Antonio. Fortunately no serious injuries however traffic was a mess for hours due to the emergency vehicles etc.

Web Link

What more is it going to take to understand that these RVs are a problem and we MUST deal with it? They do not belong on our streets or in our neighborhoods. they are hazards and accidents waiting to happen.

mvresident2003, did you see this one?

Web Link

Something needs to be done!

Or you just dislike seeing poor people around you. From your posting here, there's some pretty good evidence for one of these.

Ah yes, fortunately there are copious laws and safety requirements for homes/buildings that regulate and ensure better safety for exactly this reason. And fortunately MVFD was able to respond quickly for that reason.

RV's have no such regulation.....and/or aren't held to similar standards. Why is that? Again, I stand by my comment, what is this fascination and insistence that people live in RV's? Perhaps YOU actually LIKE living around the poor....makes you feel better or something?

Ok, at least you can admit that you dislike being around poor people. Baby steps. Aren't you also against building houses for these folks?

Seeing as how Mountain View is such a 'welcoming city', why can't people live wherever and however they want? Why can't they have 'undocumented restrooms'? These people are our neighbors and our children! Why are police harassing poor people in their sanctuary vehicles?

I'm sure that I could come up with quite a few more platitudes to throw out there. Anyway, my point (aside from the heavy sarcasm) is that the City created this mess with its policies, first and foremost of which is the explosive and uncontrolled office growth they have allowed over the last 6 years which has resulted in skyrocketing rents, and increased homelessness and crime. Then to make matters worse, they approved several projects for new, very expensive housing; or replaced affordable housing with more expensive housing or housing that displaced the original residents.

While this explosive growth may have helped the City's bottom line, it has been very harmful 'to the most vulnerable among us'. Think about that the next time you vote for City Council and check who voted for ( or will vote for) uncontrolled growth and who wants to reduce/pause growth until the equilibrium stabilizes.


Jim Neal
Old Mountain View

Well this is a heart warming story...

A transient woman residing in an RV at Cuesta Park was arrested last week on suspicion of trying to sell heroin, according to police. Officers first met with the woman on Wednesday, Sept. 20, after noticing that her RV had expired registration tabs, according to police spokeswoman Katie Nelson. After talking with the woman, officers were given permission to go into her RV, where they found more than 20 syringes loaded with heroin, Officers also found methamphetamine in the RV, as well as a samurai sword. The high number of syringes already loaded with drugs led officers to believe she intended to sell the heroin, Nelson said. Web Link

Samurai Sword?

Brilliant observation.... "The high number of syringes already loaded with drugs led officers to believe she intended to sell the heroin"

For the RV owners who are dwelling in Mountain View and Palo Alto, it’s time to understand you are not entitled to live in the place you can’t afford to. Do you like people invite themselves to live in your RV without your consent?

In an apparent set of fortunate circumstances, CalTrain is having to do fence repair and all vehicles along Cristano have to move. Hopefully this removes the issue and moving forward the City and our police enforce the signs and don’t allow it to get out of hand again.

What about compassion for the people living in condos and homes where the city is allowing RV's to park...not just RV's with people living in them but RV's that people from elsewhere are parking on the streets of Mountain View. In a few months, the City of Mountain View will make its yearly good boy show and start talking about the approaching cold weather.
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