Mountain View, California’s RV ban was quite a bumpy road
When the city finally passed legislation to officially ban RV’s from most of their city streets, and restrict the parking to just a few industrial roads in 2020, Mountain View residents launched a campaign to scrap the ban.
If the Mountain View Housing Coalition is able to collect more than 3,700 signatures, or 10% of the city’s population, then the Mountain View council will be forced to make a decision – either repeal the ban or ask the city to vote whether or not they want the law.
Many people’s lives would be devastated if this RV ban went into effect
Take Edgar Lopez, 57, for example. He has lived in Mountain View, California for thirty years. Just three months ago, he was forced to buy an RV when his rent became too high to afford.
Regarding the exorbitant Bay Area rental market, Edgar Lopez said, “It’s bad, really, really bad. We just couldn’t pay it anymore.”
Lopez and his family are among more than two hundred people in a similar predicament – forced to live in a random RV parked along the streets of Mountain View.
Last month, the city council voted to push all occupied oversized vehicles away from residential areas. This legislation passed two separate ordinances. First, all oversized vehicles are banned from parking on city streets with bike lanes. Also, oversized vehicles were banned from parking on all narrow streets in Mountain View.
Is a ban the right solution?
“A lot of people in Mountain View want us to do something about vehicle dwellers, but I think most people want a solution rather than a ban,” said Lenny Siegel, former Mountain View mayor and a member of the Housing Justice Coalition. “And since we don’t have a solution yet, we’re going to start collecting signatures.”
Mountain View is not the first city to force citizens into the crushing housing market by enacting RV parking restrictions. In fact, Mountain View is just the last entry in a long list of cities that ban RVs from parking on their streets.
A few months ago Berkeley, another California city sitting in a lucrative real estate market, voted to outlaw overnight parking. However, the law had added stipulations. For example, some RVs could park in Berkeley for up to three months. Families with young children, Berkeley workers, students attending Berkeley universities and people with a Berkeley address spanning the past ten years, were all prioritized groups.
