RV Crackdown Coming Soon?


  By Peggy Lee Kennedy
Los Angeles Municipal Code (LAMC) 80.69.4 revving up to be enforced in Council District 11 as a “pilot program.” 

Question: What is LAMC 80.69.4?
Answer: A city law written to target those living in RV’s or other vehicles deemed “over sized.” Two areas in Los Angeles are being used as pilot programs for enforcing the law. An area in Council District 11 is one of the pilot programs for the law.

Question: Why don’t the people living in RV’s just go live at the RV Park?

Answer: The only RV Park in the area is Dockweiler, which happens to be closed until March 2008. When it is open it costs around $30 per day, has rules regarding maximum time stayed per year, requires a reservation with a credit card one week in advance, and often the park does not have spaces available. Dockweiler RV Park is geared for those RVers who are on vacation and also for those who have a certain amount of discretionary money.

Question: Then why don’t the people living in RV’s just go into housing somewhere?

Answer: Los Angeles is having an affordable housing crisis and most people living in vehicles have an extremely low income. They cannot afford both food and rent. In fact, people living in vehicles are technically considered homeless. There are an estimated 91,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County.

Question: Why don’t they go into a shelter?

Answer: The number of shelter beds is severely low compared to those who are living without housing. Shelters are usually only open at night. Most winter shelters do not have walk-in access and do not have parking places for those living in vehicles. If an un-housed person has a vehicle to stay in, it is much better than going to a shelter most of the time.

Question: OK, What does the law LAMC 80.69.4 say?

Answer: Well, this law affects any vehicle considered “oversized” in an area where the city has put up signs:

• No vehicle over 22 feet long or 7 feet high may park on a signed street between 2 AM and 6 AM without a permit.

• A permit costs $10 per day.

• A permit is granted only with two forms of identification with your residential address.

• A permit is purchased from a Department of Transportation Service Center M-F during office hours.

•Permits can only be purchased for 3-days maximum.

•Permits cannot be purchased if any outstanding parking tickets are in the system.

Enforcement of LAMC 80.69 is similar to the recent city law creating Overnight Permit Parking Districts (LAMC 80.54), which is swiftly covering our city with restricted parking districts being used to eliminate the poor from our streets, district by district. See our Justice Committee web site at http://www.justice.wetnostril.net for more information on LAMC 80.54, the Overnight Parking Permit District law.

The Los Angeles City Council seems to keep crafting local laws that simply make it illegal to be homeless! These are Public Streets. These kinds of laws are hurting the poor and they are turning public streets into private or rented space.

Please call on the City Council to have more compassion for those living without housing. Until we can actually house people, lets HELP the unhoused to be safe, warm, fed, and given hope that they too may someday have a better quality of life - Not treated like criminals or treated less than human.

Please send an email or call to oppose this anti-homeless law, LAMC 80.69.4:

District 11 - Bill Rosendahl councilman.rosendahl@lacity.org
District 11 Chief of Staff Mike Bonin mike.bonin@lacity.org (213) 473-7011

Posted: Fri - February 1, 2008 at 03:07 PM          

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