Sadly this happened only blocks from my home, and only one block away from a popular children's ballet school and swim school. I think the City Council and MV police need to have a serious conversation about how they monitor and police people living in RV's all over Mountain View. It's great the police caught these two, but what if they hadn't left a mess outside their RV? What if they had been allowed to stay there for longer, resulting in a more serious problem at some future date?

I have no doubt the first few people/families who started living in an RV in Mountain View did so out of necessity and meant no harm to the community. They likely were MV residents having to move out of their home, but still having strong ties to MV and not ready to leave. But it is clear to me the longer we put off addressing this problem, the more people we have moving into Mountain View from other cities, simply to take advantage of our lax stance on the issue and see it as a great way to keep their illegal activities underground.

My family, my children, my neighbors deserve to live in a safe neighborhood and not have criminals sleeping in cars outside our houses. I understand not everyone in an RV fits this category, but clearly some do. I would love to hear more communications from our City Council and from our police force as to what their plan is (and has been) to manage this RV fiasco and how they plan to keep us safe going forward. Congrats for nabbing these two, but it feels like a lucky catch. How many others are out there in RV's in a Mountain View neighborhood as I type this, and what are the police doing to identify the trouble makers and remove them before something more dangerous happens? Mountain View residents need to be concerned and finally start demanding action from our city leaders.

-Drugs
-Drug paraphernalia
-Felons
-Firearms
-Ammunition
-More than a few expired tags

Im so glad theses RV's are not parked in my neighborhood.

@AllYouCanEat

At the rate we are going, they will be parked in your neighborhood soon unless we all demand some action from our paralyzed City Council.

The worst thing the authorities of our fair city can do is what they have been, pretty much nothing. So either they need to sweep the streets clean with a zero tolerance approach, or, regulate this activity.

It seems to me it would not be hard to require permits for overnight parking, through the permit process they can verify whether the person is employed in Mountain View or whatever appropriate criteria to justify issuance of a permit. Peddling drugs and firearms would not qualify. As it is now, the streets of Mountain View become a magnet for all types of RVs which is not fair to the tax paying citizens.

Although I loathe the creation or enablement of a bureaucracy, proactive management of this would cost less than the cure for the eventual massive public health and safety costs if this keeps going unchecked while affordable housing continues to shrink.

These unseemly RV's are also parked up and down Shoreline, close to my home. How come it's even legal? Forgive my ignorance in this matter.

Mountain View, by not regulating these RVs, has put all of us at risk. When the encampment was near Target, I stopped going there because of two incidences of very rude and insulting cat-calls when I had to walk by these RVs. Yes - some are there because they need a place to live, but I believe the majority are there to game the system. Only a clear and proper review of each RV's inhabitants, by authorities, will give us the truth.

The inhabitants we've heard about lately, are the drug sellers, prostitution and now this RV with illegal weapons. I'm sure some are families with children or local workers - however I imagine the majority are people coming here to game our lax enforcement. Please don't use the excuse that these RVs are "only trying to live where they work or go to school". That manipulation doesn't work anymore... we need a proper survey, we need to enforce local laws, and we need to help those few who are here legitimately.

I have concerns for our citizens who endure these RVs next to their homes. Who pays for the garbage cleanup, the lack of sewer hook ups, the hidden criminal activity? - clearly this expense falls to the Mountain View taxpayers. Those who think these RVs have the right to camp on our streets, without any supervision/inspection, should invite them to park in your driveways until the survey is done.

This is an excellent forum to raise concerns and suggestions but you all MUST write the City Council to ensure your views are heard and registered. I have done so and will do so again.

@Concerned MV Resident, you wrote a very well-thought and detailed commentary...I'm sure there are many who would like to let the Council know of their displeasure but don't have the time or inclination to write letters, would you mind if people cut and pasted yours and added a note like "I couldn't agree more"?

The Council NEEDS to see how strong the concern in our community is. We will only have ourselves to blame if we don't step up and speak out.

I am a resident in that area as well and I certainly don't want any risk to my children. Thank you, MVPD, for continuing helping us residents we are thankful for your help.

It makes sense to assume living in the RVs in Mountain View started largely out of necessity to staying close to current jobs, families and schools and unaffordability of our skyrocketing rents.

Every time some unpleasant or illegal activity is associated with RV dwelling the cries grow louder by the community to have RVs removed from the neighborhoods. Even though it is not clear at all how much of a real problem guns or crime from RVs is and if the percentage of such activities is really higher in RVs than in regular homes.

But as was mentioned in a prior post, some form of simple and efficient regulation of RVs might make sense now. This would allow some control over how many RVs are around and who lives in them and alleviate the fears of the community over the number of RVs mushrooming out of control.

A more beneficial longer-term solution might be to set aside some space for an RV park - or several - where people could "rent" space and where the city could provide some simple services (trash, showers, bus-stop and others).

I do believe most RV occupants are here because they work here and do not want to leave but cannot afford the high cost of housing. If we drive these well-meaning lower-wage community members out of the area we will soon face the cost in shortages of lower-paid labor. Maybe the Googlers and other techies can then start spending their 20% paid "fun time" per week serving the community in restaurants, washing our cars and cleaning our homes and much more!

@mvresident2003 that's a great idea!

Everyone, here's the contact page for our city council:

Web Link

As Mick Jagger would say, rape, murder, it's just a shot away, as long as the RV situation is allowed to continue.

Meanwhile our police force is hobble by a city council more concerned with not violating extreme liberal views (while at the same time being squarely in developers' pockets) and a police chief caught up in a sexual harassment case he is destined to lose amidst the #metoo movement currently underway.

The chickens have absolutely come home to roost.

@mvresident2003

Certainly. Anyone is free to use the letter I posted as you described. You probably don't need my permission anyway since it's posted publicly, but thank you for asking.

Having druggie felons with assault rifles living in RV's around the corner is a small price to pay for building the liberal utopia in Mountain View!

Studies show that economic inequality increases risk-taking. So, to all the NIMBYers who've blocked one development after another, you can look forward to more RVs, more package theft, and more property crime in general.

Web Link