Alicia Garcia, associate director of Project WeHope, discusses a new partnership between the nonprofit and city of East Palo Alto to help people living in their recreational vehicles through the new RV Safe Parking program, which provides services and resources with a goal of eventually moving them into permanent housing. Palo Alto Weekly journalists Jocelyn Dong, Sue Dremann and Cierra Bailey join her for the conversation. Watch the webcast here or listen to the podcast version of the episode here.
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Comments
another community
on May 17, 2019 at 5:22 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 5:22 pm
People should realize that the RVs came to East Palo Alto due to the lack of enforcement - most of the RV dwellers are from other communities. They faced no consequences for bad behavior, whether it was garbage dumping, raw sewage in the streets, or drug use. We became a magnet for the worst of the worst RV dwellers who only came here to take advantage of our city's lax enforcement. There have been 2 overdose deaths and multiple fires in the last year, and the police have stopped writing tickets. Several people - including the leaders of the RV association on Bay Road - have bought broken down RVs and are renting them out for $1k a month, and not providing necessary services like water/sewage/garbage. One guy has 8 RVs, another has 7 RVs. EPA residents should know that the city would never have been in this position had the city enforced normal regulations like requiring: 1) registration 2) running condition 3) move every 72 hours 4) proof of proper waste disposal. It has been a very costly mistake for the city to fix, and the $500k spent on cleaning up biohazard waste + the "safe parking" program could have been spent on schools, roads, and parks.
Community Center
on May 17, 2019 at 6:00 pm
on May 17, 2019 at 6:00 pm
Busing the homeless and giving them motel vouchers in other cities is a strategy that many cities are now utilizing to eradicate this problem.
Palo Alto should step up and do its share to ease the burden.
Unfortunately and due to their inherent sanctimony, most Palo Alto residents view EPA as a second rate city & would prefer that these problems are dealt with there.
Kudos to EPA for their progressive measures but they cannot do it alone.
Registered user
College Terrace
on May 17, 2019 at 11:15 pm
Registered user
on May 17, 2019 at 11:15 pm
@Kudos to EPA..., You have no idea how big this problem is!
Personally I do not think snobbery has anything to do with this RV issue!
The city of Palo Alto has hundreds of RV's parked on their streets. Good for EPA for finding space for 20 RV's.
Palo Alto can only use city owned land for RV storage which is limited. Most properties are privately owned.
As I stated, snobbery has nothing to do with this land use issue. Most of the landowners live outside of Palo Alto.
Duveneck/St. Francis
on May 18, 2019 at 7:50 am
on May 18, 2019 at 7:50 am
> Palo Alto can only use city owned land for RV storage which is limited.
> ...snobbery has nothing to do with this land use issue.
Why not utilize the now defunct dump yard off Embarcadero Road for a city-sponsored RV camp? It could also have provisions for a tent encampment as well.
It would then be out of the view of 'proper' Palo Altans and there is plenty of space.
Perhaps the area could even become an established PA neighborhood.
There is still available room for the residential PA snobs and the homeless to peacefully co-exist as one 'distanced' community.
Adobe-Meadow
on May 18, 2019 at 3:05 pm
on May 18, 2019 at 3:05 pm
The key is for Palo Alto to at least give the general impression it is being compassionate towards the homeless while not having to actually see these people around town or in the suburbs on a daily basis.
The dump yard site is appropriate for the sane homeless as it is out of the way.
The homeless who are mentally-ill cannot be helped and would only create disruptions in a homeless camp or RV environment. These individuals need to be put away once & for all as the PAPD cannot be responding to public disturbances 27/7.
The homeless drug users should be offered rehab services but if they blow it, they too should be put a away in some sort of specialized sanitarium.
Eventually the strict guidelines will discourage more homeless people from coming to Palo Alto...knock on wood.
Old Palo Alto
on May 20, 2019 at 1:55 am
on May 20, 2019 at 1:55 am
Um ok, if you have an RV you're not homeless but only a transient moving along. So wondering where they dump their daily garbage and empty their pooper tanks?
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on May 20, 2019 at 9:50 am
on May 20, 2019 at 9:50 am
> So wondering where they dump their daily garbage and empty their pooper tanks?
In the dumpsters and for the latter, in the storm drains (at night).
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on May 20, 2019 at 10:04 am
on May 20, 2019 at 10:04 am
If the site is suitable for RVs, it should be suitable for RM-30 or RM-40 BMR apartments. RVs are not workable as -urban- housing.
Registered user
College Terrace
on May 20, 2019 at 3:22 pm
Registered user
on May 20, 2019 at 3:22 pm
What about Stanford land? Many of the people in RVs work at Stanford. Is there some reason Stanford can't have an RV Park among the eucalyptus trees. People could use the various gyms to clean up. Maybe make it part of the GUP.
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on May 20, 2019 at 6:52 pm
on May 20, 2019 at 6:52 pm
> If the site is suitable for RVs, it should be suitable for RM-30 or RM-40 BMR apartments. RVs are not workable as -urban- housing.
More cost-effective to simply have open space with porta-potties and maybe some shower facilities.
Ironic how the anti-development types moan about building new housing in PA yet endorse it if the development means getting rid of RVs. Go figure.
It's all about fake appearances and concern over their property values.
Mountain View
on May 20, 2019 at 9:10 pm
on May 20, 2019 at 9:10 pm
@RVDweller....I know, right? I mean, what are they thinking being concerned about property values? Sheesh, the gall!
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on May 21, 2019 at 9:31 am
on May 21, 2019 at 9:31 am
>>> what are they thinking being concerned about property values? Sheesh, the gall!
Absolutely! Being overly concerned with the dollar sign only leads to additional greed and unnecessary stress. Best to let it go as when one is gone, those dollars won't mean jack. Life is but a dream, remember?
The transient RVs that many residents complain of are akin to the covered wagons of yesteryear. The problem is that there are countless RV transients who have become squatters. The key is not to stay in one place too long & to move about the city while parking on public property and streets if allowed.
As long as these RVs are not parked in your driveway (trespassing) or permanently stationed in front of your house (impolite), residents have nothing to say about it.
This is modern-day Manifest Destiny...heading to westward SF Bay Area & finding a place to either settle permanently or to continue moving along.
There should be some sort of Homestead Act initiated by Palo Alto and Stanford to accommodate the modern-day settlers of the Millennium.
An RV takes up minimal space and when parked in a circle, an entirely new form of community could emerge and Palo Alto could become a model for the rest of the country...maybe even make it into Time Magazine. Think about the possibilities and don't hate us just because we're poorer than you. It's un-Christian and very unbecoming of a so-called enlightened city once known for its liberal & progressive thought.
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on May 21, 2019 at 11:41 am
on May 21, 2019 at 11:41 am
Posted by RV Dweller, a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
>> This is modern-day Manifest Destiny...heading to westward SF Bay Area & finding a place to either settle permanently or to continue moving along.
RV dweller, your geography is a little confused. See, if you keep heading westward, there is this called an "ocean" in your way. But, never fear- you just need to use your RV compass and head Southeast to Arizona, which has numerous locations that welcome you with open arms. Yuma, Blythe, Quartzsite (my favorite), Casa Grande, Apache Junction, Wilcox, Benson, Tombstone -- there are so many choices. Just Google "RV park Arizona" and you will find an amazing variety of places to choose from.
Truly, -Manifest Destiny- is calling you to southern Arizona.
Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on May 21, 2019 at 8:05 pm
on May 21, 2019 at 8:05 pm
>> Truly, -Manifest Destiny- is calling you to southern Arizona.
Horace Greeley said to go west, not south and Palo Alto is just fine for us and our other RV neighbors who have traveled afar to make this city our new home.