Car camping in Outer Sunset presents many problems but few solutions
Cammy Blackstone, an aide to Supervisor Carmen Chu, called it a “prickly, complex issue.” John Zwolinski, the block captain for La Playa / Great Highway Neighborhood Watch, described the situation as “very stressful to those of us who live in the neighborhood.” Meanwhile, Bob Offer-Westort of the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness characterized it as a symptom of the “nationwide increase in homelessness.”
Whatever you want to call it, it’s easy to see what people are talking about: On any given day, parked along the Lower Great Highway, primarily between Lincoln Way and Lawton Street, are habitation vehicles — RVs and campers, often as many as 15 or 20 of them.
On June 5, Zwolinski posted pictures on a Yahoo! group with a simple message: “Had a few minutes this afternoon so I posted pics of issues — and a couple people — down here that may be worthy of your concern.”
What followed was an extensive photo album of car campers and RVs, trash and people.
Zwolinski’s photos highlighted what has been a concern of Great Highway residents for years. The Bulletin reported in December 2010 that concerned citizen action had prompted police response to this issue, but according to Zwolinski the problem now seems worse, not better.
“In the last six to eight months, the campers seem to have really dug into the neighborhood and don’t seem to want to circulate,” Zwolinski said.
“The problem isn’t the guys themselves who live in the RV’s. But there are no hookups for campers down here. So these guys tend to use the woods for the bathroom,” Zwolinski said. “Also, garbage gets typically thrown out, right on the road. There is a lot of drug use, and people end up coming and going for drug sales.”
“When you have a heavy concentration of 20 campers along a small stretch of road, it’s a pretty big problem.”
The campers mostly center around Lincoln Boulevard along the Lower Great Highway. A nearby motel has free WiFi and a coffee shop has a bathroom, which makes the area attractive for overnight sleeping.
A broken window, left behind by an RV
There are posted regulations prohibiting long-term parking along the Great Highway. If residents have concerns about a parked car, they can call 311 to report the issue.
But as Blackstone pointed out, that approach doesn’t necessarily address the issue. At least not in a timely manner.
“If there’s an RV, a resident can call 311. But that will take a day or two for 311 to process,” she said. “Then, 311 needs to send out [the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency] in order to post a 72-hour warning notice on the RV. That often takes another day or two. So by the time the 72 warning expires, it’s been more like a week and a half.”
“The whole process can be very frustrating for residents, with a lot of red tape.”
Overnight car habitation along the Great Highway is explicitly prohibited by a 2007 restriction implemented by then-supervisor Ed Jew. That law makes it illegal to sleep in a car parked on the Great Highway between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Sgt. Kevin Mannix of the Taraval Police Station explained that even such a clear-cut ordinance is difficult to enforce.
“We approach overnight vehicles and knock on the door. But if they don’t answer, we can’t enter without a search warrant,” Mannix said.
“We try to coax the inhabitant out, and usually they open the door when they see a uniform. But there are people who don’t open, and there’s not much we can do in those situations.”
The result is a lot of frustrated hand-wringing, and questions over how to address a problem that has resurfaced countless times over the last decade.
Chu’s office is hosting periodic meetings, which include police and resident groups, to discuss solutions.
One of the ideas is to turn the area into a permit-parking area, like much of the rest of the city. Street parking would be limited to two hours, except for those who have neighborhood-resident permits.
Blackstone anticipated possible resistance to such a plan.
“If we implement resident parking, does that mean everyone who lives here is ready to pay $100 per year to park their car on the street? You don’t want to make the residents have to pay in order to remove the blight.”
Another possibility is to ban any campers and similar vehicles from parking on the Lower Great Highway.
But as Mannix noted, “There are people who live in the neighborhood who might own a camper as well.”
Bob Offer-Westort of the San Francisco Coalition on Homelessness was skeptical of any proposals that would eliminate RVs and campers from the Lower Great Highway.
“The notion that we can just ‘make this problem go away’ isn’t a very realistic one. I’m sympathetic to people’s frustrations, but they are not rooted in reality,” he said.
“The reality is that we have poverty in our country, and we need to address it in a more serious way. We can’t run away from it, or make it run away from us,” Offer-Westort said.
Meanwhile, the search for a solution goes on.
“It seems to be coming to a head because the problem tends to get worse in the summer,” Blackstone said.
“We’re being very careful that whatever we pursue, it minimizes the impact on the residents but also addresses the difficulties of enforcement, having somewhere for the people to go, and not simply trying to push the problem somewhere else.”
All photos in this story were provided by John Zwolinski.
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As a guy whom runs around in an awesome tho vintage RV I’m shocked to hear what you people are living with.
The RVing types like myself HAVE rules and it looks like from your posts, people there don’t seem to give a d@mn. I feel the next time I have time off I would want to hang out with John Zwolinski so he could point out someone daring to dump their black and grey water tanks as mentioned so I can personally chase them down and beat them with a stick! Dumping trash on the sidewalks? I’d chase them with a stick too! Staying at one location longer than a day? Wow, that just screams disrespect and abuse. These are things I’d NEVER even think of doing. Its just $20 to dump my black and grey tanks at most places. There is NO excuse for what they are doing. What these people are doing makes the rest of us look really bad.
My suggestion? John and his friends should come up with a list of rules that you expect the RV community to follow. No parking longer than 24 hours in one spot, no dumping, no generators in a residential area and especially not at night when the brick and mortar neighbors and trying to sleep. If your asked politely to move along to somewhere else, you do it, without hesitation. Take these rules, put them on a list and post them in the RV windshield. You’ll find that those that want to be respectful to you and good citizens of America will comply happily. Those that don’t need a cattle prod to the rear and moved along with help of the police and a tow truck if needed.
As for sweeping laws against RVs, you’d be hitting the retired grandma and grandpa visiting as well…
And not answering the door when the police knock? That’s…. Just not something you do. That speaks loudly that something not right is going on there.
I’m sorry to hear that SF has this problem. And it should not be like that. I’m hopping mad too at these
people for screwing over people like me who love their mobile life.
Hey, RV Guy, I appreciate your post. If everyone RV’ing down here were as cool as you, we wouldn’t have an issue. Happy holidays to you. z
I’m glad to see this pervasive sentiment here. I too fear and hate those who are less fortunate than myself and have fallen on hard times to the extent that they have nowhere other than a vehicle to call home but I was ashamed of my position and thought other people better than myself would call it selfish, callous or even inhumanly cruel. We definitely shouldn’t work with them to find a way to mitigate the negative impact they have on the neighborhood. In fact, the best thing to do would be to round them up, put them and march them into a massive meat grinder. Then we can make stir delicious spices into them and put them into vegetarian sausage husks and have a vagrant-sausage barbeque.
Yes, Blendergasket, there certainly are some folks camping down here who simply have “fallen on hard times” and are just trying to keep a roof over their heads. We’ve gotten to know several over the years, and, believe it or not, have helped them out in various ways from time to time. And, there are other folks residing in vehicles down here who enjoy the freedom of living off-the-grid, and who like the proximity to the beach and the park; we know several of them, too.
But, unfortunately, among the inhabitants of an encampment the size that we’ve had along LGH for much of the past year (15-20 inhabited vehicles on a three-block stretch, and many others on adjacent blocks) there are inevitably people with serious drug, alcohol, criminal and mental health issues, and those who regularly leave human waste, garbage and even used needles behind that neighbors must avoid and city and park employees must pick up. That’s not “fear” or “hatred” talking, that’s just a sad fact that people familiar and close to the situation, like police officers, SFMTA workers, paramedics, and park gardeners, as well as neighbors whose position you take issue with, would readily confirm.
No one actually working to solve this problem is calling for a “vagrant barbeque.” It’s a given that these folks need viable alternatives to camping on residential streets, and access to support and services as needed. But pretending that the problem here is our lack of compassion, and not the meth-head in the camper across the street, helps neither the addict nor the neighborhood.
On any given day if you are walking by the RVs you will find: needles, odor of marijuana, stench of urine, dumped garbage, loud generators, broken bottles, etc, etc, etc, etc… T
Needless to say, it’s absolutely disgusting!! When my friends and family pay a visit, they are always asking about their safety because of the RVs which are parked across the street from my residence.
Dear City Hall,
I pay property taxes to live in this city, and I am tired of RVs!! Please place an enforcement program to ensure the RVs are gone, so I can feel safe in my neighborhood.
Sincerely,
Tired of the RVs!!!
I live on La Playa st. We’ve had some abusive and disrespectful car-campers in the past but thesituation (at least in front of my house) has much improved. However, it is still bad and will worsen if unchecked.
I would like to see some webcams installed so that the police can record. Then they can use the recordings in evidence at court to stop people breaking the law.
For the first time in the 64 Years we have lived here at the Beach we are now ashamed of the change in the environment causes by the campers and commercial vehicles on Lower Great Highway and Lincoln Way. They are allowed to use this area to live in the Vehicles, store them, and use the bushes in the Golden Gate Park and the Lower Great Highway berm for a toilet…
We have protested to no avail. Please, someone…..HELP.
What do the RV’s bring to the Outer Sunset?
Hazardous Trash
Panhandling
Illegal Narcotics
Aggressive Dogs
Human Feces
Oil and Gasoline Dumping
What’s next?
this used to be a wonderful neighborhood to live in, and has become a feces, drug, grafitti, crime ridden, drug and sex store because if the non tax paying people polluting the environment, lurking in the bushes, robbing our cars and homes, taking up precious and valuable parking spaces for high rent paying, hard working people.
I don’t feel safe anymore. the police would rather ticket me for driving 30 on the great hughwsy, than enforce the laws and get rid of these law breakers who are sucking money from the city.
they come from all over the country because they know sfpd doess nothing.
maybe we should all quit our jobs, stop paying rent, pollute and drag neighborhoods into the gutter, like they are
why do they get a free ride?? why don’t they have to contribute to society. ? why aren’t the existing laws being enforced? why aren’t their campers booted, ticketed, towed? why are we paying for their garbage and feces removal while they destroy the neighborhood and park? they will soon strip all the trees bear and burn the park down if something isn’t done.
this used ti be a wonderful neughborhood to live in, abd has become a feces, drug, grafitti, crime ridden, drug and sex store because if the non tax paying people polluting the environment, lurking in the bushes, robbing our cars and homes, taking up precious and valuable parking spaces for high rent paying, hard working people.
I don’t feel safe anymore. the police would rather ticket me for driving 30 on the great hughwsy, than enforce the laws and get rid of these law breakers who are sucking money from the city.
they come from all over the country because they know sfpd doess nothing.
maybe we should all quit our jobs, stop paying rent, pollute and drag neighborhoods into the gutter, like they are
why do they get a free ride?? why don’t they have to contribute to society. ? why aren’t the existing laws being enforced? why aren’t their campers booted, ticketed, towed? why are we paying for their garbage and feces removal while they destroy the neighborhood and park? they will soon strip all the trees bear and burn the park down if something isn’t done.
I’m a local resident/home owner, a mother, a liberal and an active civil servant. I care about safety. I care about our beach/park environment. I care about my family and my neighbors. Transient people living in dilapidated campers don’t offer anything to my neighborhood, and they certainly don’t help to make it safe. The increased litter, sewage, drug and alcohol use, prostitution and general lack of respect for their surroundings…added to the rude and sometimes threatening behavior, create a serious problem. This needs to be addressed by our elected officials and supported by our police. Now!
If the city can ban pet stores in a certain area of Geary then there should be a ban of RV’s on this street. Very few people who own RV’s in the city keep them on the street. An RV is very expensive and is a magnet for breaking and entering. Have tow away after 10PM, first police contact to tell them to move and if they do not answer the door tow away the vehicle with them inside. The problem would be solved quickly.
I talked to two cops last night and they recognize the problem but said, what we’ve heard before that the present habitation restriction is unenforceable because people don’t answer the door. Also I feel that a wieght restriction option would only be partially effective and some of the wrong people would be penalized. That’s why I think a new ordinance is the answer……something like NO PARKING HABITATION VEHICLES BETWEEN 10PM & 6AM…..
A habitation vehicle would be defined as any vehicle inwhich a person five feet tall could stand errect, which vehicle could serve a habitation function such as sleeping or cooking………..This way our night time parking enforcement officer, we have 12, could take care of this problem and leave the police available for other urgent problems. The fine should be comparable to a hotel stay……..say $100………….I believe this would solve this disgraceful health hazard….We need Habitation Vehicle Regulation……
Anyone who says the camper problem is okay clearly does not have children or care about public safety. When the camper shows up on your front door, dumps sewage in the gutter in front of your house, sells hookers in plain view, has teenagers in to buy drugs, gets beligerant and threatening when you ask them to leave, then you will lknow how we feel. I care that people have a roof over their head and we are compassionate with many of the homeless that live in our area. We regularly give them clothing, sleeping bags, bedding, food, and dog food. The campers are different and they need to leave residential neighborhoods – period.
This is a fair and balanced piece. Good work, OBB!
What we have here are two problems. The big one is solving the problem of folks living in vehicles on the streets of San Francisco. Achieving that will require, on one hand, identifying legal, affordable, safe alternative places for these folks to move to and, on the other, the means to enforce no-habitation ordinances if they choose to remain on residential streets. Supervisor Chu and her staff, concerned citizens, SFPD and other stakeholders are exploring approaches to solving this overarching problem.
The smaller, more immediate problem is breaking up and dispersing what has become a de facto established encampment on Lower Great Highway. We’ve been averaging around 20 occupied habitation vehicles a night on LGH between Lincoln and Lawton (a dozen to fifteen just between Lincoln and Judah) for many months now. As the article says, we’ve had campers, vans and RV’s down here for decades, but when you get the sort of density we’ve been experiencing for as long as we’ve been experiencing it, the neighborhood does suffer: The green-strip along LGH between Lincoln and Judah has become essentially a two-block, open air latrine (OBB discretely chose not to publish photographic evidence of this, but it’s so bad you can smell it as you walk along the path). There are also piles of human waste here and there along the grass just outside the campers. There are bags and loose piles of “household” garbage left along the curb (e.g., cereal boxes, milk containers, empty food cans and liquor bottles…in other words, not the sort of garbage day-trippers and beach-goers would tend to leave behind). There’s more panhandling, more public drinking and intoxication, more drug sales and use, more “sketchy” individuals, more folks you don’t know overnighting yards from your home, and far less available parking.
Not every camper is a problem, certainly, but among a population this big you inevitably get some who are. For example, we’ve caught campers emptying their sewage tanks into the storm-drains in front of our house in the wee-hours. Some campers leave used needles outside their vehicles. This past weekend I encountered a regular overnighter securing his “stash” in the branches of a tree outside his RV. One young guy who has been living in his van down here for years turns tricks in the woods behind the Murphy Windmill. These aren’t the sort of folks who make great neighbors. Moving these guys along won’t solve the bigger problem – that will take creativity, consensus, resources and time. But it will give our long-suffering corner of the Outer Sunset a much-needed break.
This has been problem for decades. The City is to blame. Instead of setting aside an RV Park for vehicle homeless that includes water and sewage hook ups and infrastructure, the City for years has turned a blind eye to informal car camping at the beach. It is part of a long well established history of treating the beach like a dump. The only effective mechanism my neighbors and I have ever found for this is direct intervention. If you don’t encourage movement or if a vehicular homeless or semi-truck storage operation goes on for more than a day …. they’ll be less likely to move the next day. Third day usually involves beach chairs and BBQ on the lawn slope below the bike path. A sort of homestead operation begins. And …. sewage and trash soon begin to pile up as well.
I’d rather see people with some kind of roof over their head than sleeping in a doorway or in the park. Perhaps the garbage and other issues can be targeted instead of the vehicle habitation.
The City does not owe anyone an RV park, it spends 500 Million dollars a year on services. The people living in their vehicles game the system. They do not pay for use of the street. They do not pay property tax (though they occupy a section of the city). They do not contribute to city services. What they do get is free garbage pick-up. They cost the city a bundle in police services. If the cops aren’t responding to it, they are dealing with the neighborhood complaining about it. The higher ups are discussing it. The BOS is trying to legislate something to control it. All costing money, but The homeless advocates pay their tickets or get them thrown out.
Let’s discuss intervention. “No-I like living in my Dolphin RV at 25th and Lincoln.” I don’t want to move into an SRO, section 8, get a job, or go to a shelter-this is much better.
RV park? They won’t use it. Even if it were free. That would not facilitate them living so close to the park, being able to hide, or shroud their criminal history of sex registrant status.
How about mental cases. Accept our services! No! Please accept our services? NO! Pretty please accept our services? No!
Protect your neighborhood, rally the community, and don’t give up. Golden Gate Park-all of it-should be the diamond of San Francisco. La Playa has turned into a joke. When I grew up, there was none of this.
I don’t advocate rounding up anyone. Due process is important. The solution is properly legislate RV urban camping that does not allow for this SF laughable BS gaming.