It’s tough to find parking anywhere when you drive an RV. Renting space in a campground puts you in close proximity to a lot of people who don’t seem to need sleep; parking on an empty road or in a commercial parking lot is awkward, to say the least; and parking anywhere residential is a gamble because you don’t know what the rules are from town to town. Besides that, the neighbors don’t like it.
Some towns allow RV parking, others don’t, some require permits and limit length of stay. Even when there are rules in place, it’s complicated.
In Long Beach, CA, city council members are voting on new rules that allow RV owners to park for 72 hours at a time if they have a permit obtained by a person who lives on the street, reports scpr.org. The rules come after residents and law enforcement grew tired of dealing with RVs parking for long periods of time and sometimes abandoned.
It isn’t just vacationers parking RVs on residential streets, the city says there are many homeless people living in RVs. The new rules would make life harder for the homeless, so Long Beach officials are working on alternative parking locations.
Long Beach officials counted 1,863 homeless in a census conducted in January. Of the 686 who were not living in some sort of shelter, roughly 7 percent were living in their vehicles, according to the Long Beach Department of Health & Human Services. There were also a number of people who appeared to be living in RVs, but did not identify themselves as homeless and were not included in the count.
RVs can be eye sores, and I have neighbors who don’t think they should be parked anywhere on our street – including driveways. That seems harsh, but I know I would see it differently if there was a 45- foot Class-A RV parked 4 yards from my house blocking all sunlight.
I’m completely against long-term RV parking on residential streets – except for when my family visits me and they need a place to stay, of course. If they can’t park on my street they have to get a hotel, or worse, stay at my house.
Read the article here.
