Days are numbered for RVs parked along Marina Boulevard

1. I am not trying to homestead any piece of land anywhere. I own land.

2. Alongside rights comes responsibilities.

3. “My income is what the government gives all people who need help. Nowhere near enough for berkeleys falsely inflated housing costs. If Berkeley subsidized rents or did any of the things to help those in time of need then yes I could afford rent and food. Finding someone who will rent to me is the other battle.”

   So if you are living on public assistance why are you living in one of the most expensive places in the state/country? Not trying to be crass simply don’t understand the logic. I have found myself unemployed in the 40 plus years I’ve been working. When that occurs I find a locale that can support me on my income level and not continue to struggle while simply asking for additional assistance and making wishes that a system can’t provide. At some point, one must move beyond the “system” and make changes on their behalf…and their childs. At this point my assessment to what you are stating is that in Berkeley “handouts” are much easier to get, the political system is always giving, yet the income received can’t support you….hence, all while waiting for public assistance to be granted. I pay huge amount of taxes which I was always taught by my parents is ok if others are in need, However, and frankly I find my access to public space that I contribute to dwindling, clean safe sidewalks to walk on dwindling, quality of a safe night life dwindling, police force dwindling, etc etc….yet I continue to pay my tax bills. Please help me understand why I should not be fed up with this downward spiral of Berkeley that drains my pocketbook? We are ALL on limited incomes and limited services.

4. Not the person. The person who attacked me is known, known by police, and living in a trailer at the encampment. Please explain “really seemed to hate women”. How would you deduce that?

5. Oh, you mean voluntary segregation?

6. What makes that the race card? Middle class whites who were born in the 1960’s and 1970’s lived in 100% white suburbs where poverty largely did not exist because those suburbs were green fielded in corn fields. I say that as a person in that group. People raised in those circumstances think they should always be able to live in those circumstances (I don’t think I should – I can choose, but may not have that choice). Now that they are in the Bay Area, if they do not have high earning power, they can’t live in those same circumstances. They can’t live in a SFH on a tree lined street with people that are culturally similar in the majority of dimensions, as they did when growing up. The thought of living in a different environment is uncomfortable (to them),

7. “I’M sorry but I have been homeless for the majority of my little boys life.”

   Where is his father?

8. She has a right to live in Berkeley.

9. Wondered who and when the “race” card was going to be played.

10. Makes one wonder how many individuals, families, disabled, children and others are excluded from the access to public space due to the parking being used for 20 plus trailers. Much fo the public use the area for physical activity, mental health walks, training of service animals, childhood play, exposure to open space for psychological well-being etc. One could argue that the encampment is forcing others to “go away” no different than their argument of “being told to go away”. However, public exclusion in numbers in public space far exceeds the exclusion of a few if they are forced to move.

11. https://www.womensdropin.org/

    These people do good things. Have a nice playground for the kids too.

    You can’t live in an RV forever and there is never going to be subsidized housing. You are going to have to come up with a long term plan at some point. The plan will most likely require leaving Berkeley for a cheaper area.

12. Yes it is voluntary segregation, but what are you trying to communicate with your brief comments? Saying a phrase that causes elected officials in Berkeley to cower when stated in person at a school board or city council meeting does not work on the internet. What point are you trying to argue?

13. “You feel entitled to attack black people”

    No, I don’t “attack” people because they are black. I DO, however, criticize CERTAIN black folks when I thing they are wrong, or ignorant, or incapable of accepting responsibility for their own actions, just as I criticize certain whites (and latinos, and Asians) as well. If you think I’m going to play by your silly PC rules that say white folks aren’t allowed to criticize black folks, forget it.

    “You attack women as “hysterical.” ”

    I’m always amused on how certain people on the left have a difficult concept understanding the difference between “all”, “some”, and “none”. Maybe you need some remedial education? Here’s a training video that will help:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNJy8S9C178

    “And now you attack whites less fortunate than you as “trash.””

    I don’t attack ANYONE for being “less fortunate” than me. I criticize these vagrants because most of them flat-out REFUSE to do what many of us have done in our own lives when we find ourselves not content with our current standard of living, we do something about it (move, pursue education, improve our job skills) and better ourselves instead of whining about how everyone else is mean to us because they won’t give us free stuff. You know, I am a quite vocal critic of illegal immigration, but I have far more sympathy for illegal Mexicans and Salvadoreans who will travel for hundreds or thousands of miles to find work, vs. a bunch of indolent crybabies who could find themselves somewhere with jobs and cheaper housing if they merely bothered to start up their RVs and move a few hours down the road.

    “You seem to have a bottomless trick bag of angry racial, gender, and class stereotypes..”

    Ah yes, another attempt by a hysterical lefty to project your own issues on others, as I have far less of them than you do. I criticize others when I think they are WRONG, regardless of race, gender, or class, something that causes that hard-wired left-wing mind of yours such distress.

14. Yes, yes she does. She has a right to live in whatever circumstances city law allows. If it allows single family homes, she can live in a single family home. If it allows apartments, she can live in an apartment. If it allows RV’s, she can live in an RV. If it allows camping in parks, she can camp in a park. If it doesn’t allow RV’s at the Marina, she can’t live in an RV at the Marina. And so forth.

    Film at 11.

15. Do you have family that can help you. The government is an awful assistant as you have discovered – too slow, too cheap, not adaptable to different circumstances. And it could be decades before that changes.

    Edit: I reread your last paragraph and you are wrong about falsely inflated housing costs. The costs are in line with towns to the north and south such as Albany, Oakland, El Cerrito, etc. Which are in line with the whole Bay Area. Who has the power to falsely raise the rent on every property in the Bay Area? I recently rented out a property and for an asking rent in line with local averages, I had multiple applicants who were quite happy with the exchange after I rented to one of them.

    If “Berkeley” subsidized rents – what does that mean? You mean if I subsidized your rent? I am Berkeley. And so are 120,000 other people. You mean you want us to subsidize your rent in this particular place? You want us to rent you an apartment for $2500 here, vs. $400 elsewhere? On what basis do you get $2100 more per month of our income to acquire a luxury good (housing in a costly place) vs. a basic good (housing in a cheaper place)? Please explain.

    Different people have different pain points. Your circumstances are unfortunate. I plan to live here a while. If I could not afford it, I would move, reluctantly, but living somewhere else is better than the street here. Plenty of people make the opposite choice: living on the street here is better than living in Phoenix. I think the city should make it hard to make the latter choice. Because many people need life counseling to help them make more productive choices.

16. When you choose to squat in some location you didn’t pay for, and come up with every reason possible as to why you can’t move, AND post rhetorical comments such as “home != conventional housing”, it’s pretty damn well clear you’re trying to homestead some piece of land somewhere.

17. Also, if you’re too ill, you’re probably too ill to drive or maintain an RV.

18. I do agree that our safety net is flawed. It can take time to get SSDI, and you have to pretty much be destitute -which is wrong any way you look at it. The amount they provide is pretty slim, too.
    The answer is the same, though, you have to live in an area where you can stretch that $ as far as you can. Federal programs follow you, are not location specific. The other option would have been to apply for Section 8 housing (still kinda expensive). The waiting period is in years, not months, but you will never qualify if you didn’t/don’t apply.
    For those who care, if you do receive SNAP, it’s worth double the face value at any of the Farmers’ Markets (and, BTW, it’s a lot cheaper being Vegetarian/Vegan!)

19. Big differences (having worked in that area): miners are trapped by geography, lack of education, and (for many) really crappy health because of the terrible work conditions. The biggest difference: miners have worked their b**ts off, going deep into mines, working flat on their backs for long, long hours in the dark, always fearing deadly gases, cave-ins…. while the mine owners routinely try to figure out how to sc**w them.
    The bums here -well they wouldn’t last an hour in a mine.

20. It’s a shame that these freeloaders have annexed one of the most breathtaking areas in the bay area. It’s one thing if they were clean and kept to themselves but we all know that this is mostly not the case. There’s a reason marina is one of the more dangerous areas of the city at night.

21. I lived in several different neighborhoods over the last few decades. I don’t have “housing.” I had my homes. That I earned and paid for with earned income from my paychecks. I saw doctors with full coverage health insurance that I paid for out of pocket. I lived my life in many ways for many years. Just like you have. I had problems like a lot have. My health. My health and my trust in a system that never planned to earn that trust. I finally finally got approved for social security. If I had it five years ago, I might not have slipped this far into ill health. But each step that should’ve helped to keep me from falling only pushed me further down. Now I’m so sick and so exhausted and so scared of this flawed system, that I’ve lost my strength. I don’t want To live on a polluted strip of dirt in a polluted rv with polluted rats and no privacy and no normalcy to watch my baby grow up in. Living this way is killing me as much as my health. Feeling the fear and anger and disgust of the world around me breaks my heart. I hurt for the normal world as badly as I do for those of us stranded in hell. This kind of living must not be for the empathetic. What hope and faith I have left is all based on the humanity surrounding us that still uses their hearts. It’s based in the profound deep love I have for my child. It’s based on my absolute insistance that he not be so mistreated and shoved out of a life I know he deserves to have. All of what I have in me and what I have learned in my life tells me, that those feelings are ultimately the true successes of my life. I don’t think I will change a faulty government or force the hands of those who run things. In fact I know that is never going to be a battle I win. Thank God I am not fighting that battle. I just want to live and raise my baby and watch him become the best man he can be. I am going to lose that battle now too.
    My income is what the government gives all people who need help. Nowhere near enough for berkeleys falsely inflated housing costs. If Berkeley subsidized rents or did any of the things to help those in time of need then yes I could afford rent and food. Finding someone who will rent to me is the other battle.
    I hope that isn’t to much of an answer to your questions

22. And yet, Somewhere, you do have an entitlement mentality, despite your parents’ best efforts. You feel entitled to attack black people, referring to them as “these people.” You attack women as “hysterical.” And now you attack whites less fortunate than you as “trash.” You seem to have a bottomless trick bag of angry racial, gender, and class stereotypes. Where did your parents go wrong, Somewhere?

23. For the most part, this group is just like the coal miners in Virginia. Demanding entitlements and unwilling to learn new skills to change their lives for the better. It’s hard to understand the mentality of this breed… Just think break to that crappy factory job you had in high school- when you looked around and realized you were the smartest person there, and that there’s no way your spending your life rotting there. Promising better for yourself, you went to college, became successful, but they’re still working there, brooding over how they can screw the man over.

24. won’t even use the dog park these days….

25. What street did you live in in Berkeley and for how long before you became homeless? Why did you lose your housing in Berkeley? What is your monthly income?

26. Been here over 30 years; your claims smack of classic victim mentality. SHAME on you for not moving to where you could house your children. We did.

    Interesting that someone who claims homelessness has access to the internet -courtesy of who? ah, yes, citizens –who pay their taxes.

    PS: If you are too ill to work, if your child has a chronic illness, there’s SSDI. It works. Otherwise, you work, share legitimate housing, and [obviously] move to an affordable area.

27. Myself, my child, his father, the people in the next 7 rvs a long the way… all of us. As to your rather rude statement that people should not come here to Berkeley to go through this PROCESS BUT should do it in their own hometown…THIS IS OUR HOMETOWN. Is it yours? Cause if that line of thinking is going To keep blindly getting repeated; then I think it should be backed up by making all of you that moved here to Berkeley leave! Get out of the homes that belonged to people from Berkeley. You know all the people that had to move because you outsiders came along with your greed and ruined our communities and housing market. I personally know hundreds of people and families who have had to leave the neighborhoods that WE GREW UP IN. I know of 6 generations of families that had to separate to cities far away from each other. 20 years ago everybody knew EVERYBODY AND THEIR GRANDMOTHER BY FIRST NAME in Berkeley. Most of you only know each other’s names from a neighboorhood watch, know who your neighbors are, list.
    A few weeks ago I went to a street in my old neighborhood to check on a friend’s mother. The houses had changed some were torn down. I didn’t know for sure which house it was. So I knocked on three different doors to check. Each house had people that had just moved here from CHICAGO. Like with the last month. NONE of them knew anybody. But they all pulled out this LIST of neighbors names they had gotten from their helpful neighborhood safety awareness representative. That is not at all Berkeley like. That’s called paranoia will destroy ya.
    Back to the not from here idea. Thousands of ” Berkeley natives” have been displaced over the last 10 or 15 years. They majority of you that comment on these issues ARE THE ONES THAT DISPLACED THEM.
    Heck Berkeley’s privately owned housing authority is run by a business that streamlined this displacement process. My opinion is no HOUSING AUTHORITY SHOULD BE PRIVATELY OWNED. Thats not an authority its a MONOPOLY.
    Expanding on that issue- a recent request for information about what the BERKELEY HOUSING AUTHORITY does and offers for housing and for the homeless got me the direct answer of NOTHING. THEY DO NOT OFFER ANY HOUSING SERVICES ELEMENTS PROGRAMS VOUCHERS SUBSIDIES OR ANY OTHER LABELED BRANDS OF HOUSING TO ANYBODY NOW OR IN THE FUTURE. But they sure as heck accept the money your taxes have paid to DO EXACTLY THAT. And their a private business!!!!
    That is just downright sickening! My mother taught me not to accept the math if the numbers didn’t add up in the middle.
    That’s just some of the really really bad math Berkeley does all day long.
    I don’t care where you or Joe Blow is from. I do care if you want to sit on here and talk down to those who are down. But you won’t check the math of those who run your money.
    I’M sorry but I have been homeless for the majority of my little boys life. I have been trying to stop this nightmare and get off of it since before it started. From the gate people always blanket statement it all with you’re the only one who can change what happens to you. It turns out that isn’t true. I got no problem with making my life and my baby’s life right. But evidently city of Berkeley doesn’t think that should happen. They have stepped onus when we were at Our weakest. To be put on the streets by the city services that are supposed to get you off of them, when you and you’re baby are deadly ill, in the middle of winter; is NOT RECEIVING SUPPORTIVE SERVICES.
    That is a small portion of what the city of Berkeley does to those in need. THAT ARE FROM HERE.

28. Tell me one thing I save said that is factually incorrect. And I’m not the one with the anger issue – I don’t resent people merely for doing better than I am.

29. I don’t have problems living near working class latinos – I would prefer them for my neighbors over lazy white trash derelicts. But then again, my parents raised me not to have an entitlement mentality.

30. I agreed about the water lock so I’m not sure what point you are making.

31. No, it sounds like an anger issue.

32. Whites with middle class upbringing don’t want to live near working class Latinos. They want to live like their parents lived.

33. Thank you for sharing, living and seeing is believing. It’s real, it’s a problem and for all the bleeding hearts out there who want to pass the buck, blame or concerns to the city, state or federal government, while you are waiting for results and given your blogging and written compassion, please do share your physical compassion by sharing your houses, toilets, driveways etc. with them…..There has to be at least 1000 households in Berkeley hold outs who seem to think government, local or federal will solve the problem. Don’t get upset when tax paying citizens are concerned about the current situation……feel free to open your homes and while your at it, draw a bath for them, give them your ATM card PIN number and let them park in your driveway……and at minimum in front of your house. I will continue to donate money to charities, pay taxes, offer “spare change,” and vote my conscious. I will also listen to both sides of the argument because most likely the solution is somewhere in the middle. Polarized, Polarized…….I just want the Homesteaders and the criminal homeless to be put where they belong. The homeless will then likely gain more compassion for who and what their circumstances are.

34. Well that is a most interesting story you have. Very similar to the one I also have. Mine however was a member of the marina keeping me trapped in a public restroom by throwing rocks at the door. At one point a woman walked up and asked if he was waiting in line for an available restroom. He told her No he was just making sure the riffraff cleared out and didn’t come back. I yelled that I was calling for help And To leave me alone. My phone wouldnt connect to the police so I had to call the harbormasters office to get help. They came to the restrooms and made sure the person had left so I could come out. The police did call me and I returned their call once I had calmed down. They said that if I wanted to make a report they would come but since their was no one seen by anybody it wouldn’t really do much.
    So you were attacked by a man from the rvs. I am sorry for that. I can say however, there was a man who was in the back parking lots who recently tried to work his way into staying around our vehicles. His behavior his choice of harassing the mayor’s office on a daily basis, his dangerous choices of calling the police claiming someone had broken into an rv and had barricaded themselves in it; which was completely fabricated in order to get the police to break down the rvs doors, and then to make false accusations against me to those same police when I let them know he was lying. After those incidents and more, I told him in no uncertain terms that he had better leave me and my child alone or if get a restraining order. This man befriended someone parked near me and then spent a month trying to cause us, the marina slipholders and the city of Berkeley officials so much stress and chaos that we would all finally turn on each other.
    Once I yelled real loud and clear about not taking his b.s. he cleared out. From what I hear the marina or something put a stay away order on him completely.
    He was an older Caucasian man with white hair and had a dog. Claimed he was special forces and really seemed to hate women.
    I don’t know if that’s the guy who attacked you. It would be better if people actually spoke up when things like this happen. I am guilty of not speaking up myself. Honestly I felt like nobody would care what happened to a homeless woman. Or like I deserved it for thinking I had the right to use the restroom.

35. Mr. Lee and Mr. Zint pay zero…. true;

36. I dont’ buy it. THere are people who just hiked here from Mexico, working as day laborers, who have housing, they afford their housing by having several roommates. If you have to have housing, you’ll have housing. If we make it so it’s an acceptable option to live in vehicles, people will choose that instead of standard housing. We need to make it NOT an option for folks to plan to live in a vehicle here for months and years. Just say..NOPE!

    If you can work, if you have a vehicle, you can also drive to where you can afford to live.

37. Even Emma Lazarus, bless her soul, would be sick and tired of today’s “huddled asses”.

    She’d write some new lines.

    “Give me your tired, your poor,
    The deadbeats and bums, yearning for free camping and other handouts
    The wretched nuisance who got kicked out of 6 cities before.
    Send these, the homeless of the nation, to me,
    I’ll ship the schmucks to a work camp
    No more indolence, garbage and feces on the sidewalk or by your door.”

38. Thanks for passing on that info.
    Brings up a tough point, eh??
    Many teachers, first responders, Cal students have a tough time here as well, and they/we NEED them to be here.

39. List one person in that caravan who has made ANY attempt to get help from the city -better yet has gone through the process IN THEIR HOME TOWN, their last KNOWN address. Housing those who come here with no options, no plan, is NOT our problem.
    We must help our residents, Berkeley natives, who are trying to help themselves.

40. ignorant

41. Hmm, sounds like the truth hurts, doesn’t it?

42. Article quote:
    —
    Whitson said the people living in trailers, including some who have kids or serious health problems, and can’t afford steep local rents, have no idea where to go next.

    “It’s just such a messy situation,” Whitson wrote. “A real human rights and public health as well as a civil rights and mental health nightmare. If we could just be granted an empty parking lot of some unused property (of which, there are plenty on this end of town, I have researched this), so many problems could be solved/prevented.”
    —

    As some of us know, the end of Emma Lazarus’s famous 1886 sonnet for Lady Liberty in NY Harbor spreading iconic words of welcome to immigrants entering our country over a century ago goes as such …
    “‘Give me your tired, your poor,
    Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
    The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
    Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
    I lift my lamp beside the golden door!'”

    It’s too bad and highly ironic that the Edict of Lord Chakko in SF Bay shall KICK OUT out the Diverse and Constantly Vilified group of tired, poor, and huddled masses of “people living in trailers, including some who have kids or serious health problems, and can’t afford steep local rents” from the probable view of the golden gate!

43. Article quote:
    “… residents of the trailers, many who have been parked along the east side of Marina Boulevard for months, say they stay amongst themselves, not bothering other people. Some say they use far fewer city resources, and pose less of a health risk to both themselves and other residents, than they would if they had to live on the streets.”

    That pretty much agrees with what was written in yesterday’s NBC Bay Area news story ‘Berkeley Cracks Down on RVs Camping Along Marina’ https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Berkeley-Cracks-Down-on-RVs-Camping-Along-Marina-483272231.html
    The NBC story has the short video of Melissa Colorado interviewing people in the area, and brings out the point that quite a few of these vilified trailer residents are actually working 9-to-5 and yet STILL can’t afford any “normal” costs of housing anywhere else in Berkeley these days.

44. Home != conventional housing

45. Your points would be more palatable if they weren’t delivered with venom.

46. Jesus would approve. Screw the poor.

47. > To live in Berkeley you have to pay lots lots lots of taxes

    That’s demonstratably untrue.

48. > If you have an outdoor faucet or outlet buy a lock!

    Good idea.

    > Keep them uncomfortable

    No need to harass fellow humans, no matter their station.

49. Since the poster defined homesteaders as “individuals who choose camper/RV/Van living by choice and
    as a lifestyle” it’s pretty clear *he* doesn’t.

50. The marina policy for years has been no overnight camping and was posted clearly. However, recently it was stated that the city council has removed that stipulation.

51. As a frequent visitor to the boat slips in the marina here is what I personally have endured from this group who “they stay amongst themselves, not bothering other people”:
    -held against my will inside the restroom facility while a known resident in the camp pounded on the door with a rock to “let him in” or he’d “kill me”. This was the second incident that this person threatened human life to gain access to the restroom facility. A police report was filed, he admitted to doing it. He then was observed by me intimidating a female to let him into another shower/restroom at another dock. Nothing new here.
    And for other wonderful positive actions:
    -Slipholders have observed and documented residents discarding used syringes near/in the dumpsters.
    -Slipholders have observed and documented urinating and defecating in public during daylight hours with families nearby
    -Slipholders/park/visitors have observed and documented entire dumpsters filled with scraps brought into the marina/park from city scavenging
    -Slipholders have observed and documented physical domestic violence acts
    -Slipholders/park visitors have observed and documented oil/gasoline/other chemicals dumped into or around dumpsters
    -Observation/documentation by city staff of dumping sewage tanks from trailers directly onto parking lot grounds
    -chopshops, drug dealing, prostitution, etc etc etc
    –
    –

52. Elitist panhandlers with mobile homes.

53. Thank you for sharing the real facts about this situation. People need to know what is REALLY going on here, and these facts make it even more appalling that the city has let this nuisance exist for so very long at the Marina.

54. Do you know that California is pretty much in a constant state of drought, and to “encourage” residents to save water Alameda County and East Bay MUD has put our rates up through the roof? Why are you so sure that SolSonya can afford to supply water to everyone who helps themselves to their tap? Where’s your compassion for SolSonya who may get their water turned off if they can’t pay the bill?
    It’s easy to be on your moral high horse here, but the realities are not so simplistic.
    Also, you might want to scroll up and see what Bagpipe Wind above has to say about their experiences in the marina… and then maybe rethink who’s harassing who.

55. this morning a saw a bumlike man tipping over trashcans and newstands near petes north berkeley and vine st. then he went on shattuck ave. i picked up a few cans he tipped over , but this stuff has been going on for awhile now , crazy people yelling and tipping over cans.

56. Ironically true of our activists too. Ferguson is sooooooo far let’s just stay home and bash BPD.

57. The quote doesn’t say “for free.” How much could many of them pay to the city en exchange for a long term parking permit?

58. Hmm, funny how that works!

59. Wow!

60. Right to be UNwelcoming in Berkeley, case closed!

61. Not gonna work: too hard to push the shopping carts.

62. I think that’s the idea with the k-rails. Permanent ban/permit = excellent idea. Gives BPD all the authority they need!

63. Grrrrrrr…

    Sounds like Chapter 6 in “How to turn nice liberal Berkeley progressives into staunch Republicans.” Shove nuisance right in their face and then refuse to do anything about it for, oh, several months or years.

    Definitely the way to ensure that Berkeleyites have no more foolish “compassion” for these malfeasants.

64. egad. wonder if that’ll be how they use grant monies from Kaiser…..

65. Many of us are 100% willing and wanting low income housing to be built in Berekely. We aren’t however willing to get Cholera because you are dumping human waste in the bay.

66. It is not a legal RV camp because there are no services in place for disposing of your waste, and it is adjacent to an area that is a breeding ground for endangered species, there is zero chance that the city told you to camp at the marina where your behavior threatens a fragile ecosystem. Public parks are not there for your group to destroy. Don’t you get it? Illegally dumping wastes hurts people, animals, and the environment.

67. “So what if they are gross polluters.” Ummmmmm no. I care about our environment and the safety of our Bay for both people and animals.

68. Ugh. So sorry to hear you are going through all this. We had a similar situation with an RV in front of our house when we first bought in 10 years ago. I was told multiple times that it wasn’t illegal for the occupants to live in an RV in our street, after months of stress/ fear came home one day to see the guy getting arrested. He was in the company of a runaway minor female, and half a dozen stolen bikes. I hadn’t seen the girl previously, but can only imagine how much better off she would have been had BPD investigated after one of my previous calls.

69. “But the old lady who is disabled and alone? What do you say about her living in a vehicle?”

    She doesn’t belong in a vehicle. She belongs in an assisted living facility where she can receive proper care, not camped out in an RV on the edge of town.

    “Do you say she should go to some other town if she cant afford berkeleys evil high market? ”

    That’s what a smart person would do. How come you don’t like that idea?

70. If it is out of state vehicle use CHP cheaters online system to report them. They are looking for registration violators. Yes, we see lot’s of campers, RVs and busses with extra cars to scoot around town in……Obviously, they are involved in our community hence residents, hence registration/smog requirements, recycling charges, sewer charges etc.

71. great idea!

72. What ridiculous statements. You folks are breaking about 5 to 10 different laws, camping where you are, and causing serious nuisance, and when people point this out, you call them “haters” and say that they are telling lies and “trying to end your lives.”

    What nonsense! If it causes you “harm” when area residents express their views on your rampant law-breaking and squatting, then how can you cope with living in the real world?

    I mean the whole theme of what you’re saying is that you have to be allowed to break laws, willy-nilly, without consequence, and without criticism or comment, or your lives are in danger!. I have rarely seen such entitled nonsense. Clearly the skewed politics of this area gives rise to such silliness…there is no common sense in evidence here, and it’s your lack of common sense, rather than other people’s views, which is the real danger to your lives.

73. Isnt this still a FREE COUNTRY? So what if there are people who prefer to live in their vehicles and travel the country? If they were your grandparents, youd call it retirement. But the old lady who is disabled and alone? What do you say about her living in a vehicle? Do you say shes a freeloader? Do you say she should go to some other town if she cant afford berkeleys evil high market? What about the single parent who is terminally ill and cant find anywhere to go because THEY ARE SICK? So what if the rvs are annoying you or gross polluters or parked at the marina?
    if you dont like it dont blame those people. Blame the ones whose paychecks you paid and havent earned them!!! Your local government and whatever facade for homeless services theyve got. If thry realky

74. Nope. you spend millions on paying for berkeley to funnel everybody else’s millions from program to program. none of your taxes go to helping and housing ANYBODY.

75. I hear there is lots of free rv parking in Nevada- road trip!

76. Based on my personal observation, 9 out of 10 EU-styled (officially called “Vienna Convention” in English) license plates seen in the Bay Area are fakes on the front end of German cars (BMW/VW/Audi usw.) with actual California license plate numbers. Technically they aren’t legal but they don’t seem to be a high priority for CHP enforcement. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_European_Union

77. Monkey wrench. As soon as an item appears on the sidewalk, toss it. Trim bushes to remove hiding places for people or stuff. Cut strings off your fence. Take extra care to lock cars and leave nothing to pilfer.

78. Even better.

79. My bad 378S5. There is a coded sticker, though its illegible unless you are a few inches away from it.

80. Put some cameras on your house and keep calling your Council critter til the City does something. Calling the Mayor and the City Manager might also help. It’s outrageous that we’re being threatened and intimidated by these people permanently camping in our city.

81. Berkeley residents are tiring of this. As the RV dwellers might have noticed, governments are slow to respond. Move one city over and you are good to go for another few months. And so on. This isn’t the end of the world.

82. Its definitely only 5 digits and its also still parked there, right around the corner from the cannery. AZ veterans or vanity plates.

83. And on that note, an interesting economic model from a former Cal Berkeley professor of economic history:

    The five universal laws of human stupidity

    Law 4: Non-stupid people always underestimate the damaging power of stupid individuals. In particular non-stupid people constantly forget that at all times and places and under any circumstances to deal and/or associate with stupid people always turns out to be a costly mistake.

    https://qz.com/967554/the-five-universal-laws-of-human-stupidity/
    http://harmful.cat-v.org/people/basic-laws-of-human-stupidity/

84. “THE PROBLEM WITH THAT IS THERE IS NOWHERE ELSE TO GO”

    Oh, bullsh!t. There are PLENTY of places to go, and plenty of former Berkeley and SF Bay Area residents have relocated over the years, and no shame in doing so – in fact more power to them. Unlike you, they had the maturity, personal pride and sense of mind to try their luck in Sacto, Reno, LV, Phoenix, Tucson et. al, and many of them (especially former renters in Berkeley who found they could become homeowners elsewhere) were happy they did.

    You know, you remind me of something I read years ago in one of Ayn Rand’s books. She may have been a bit off the wall on a lot of issues, but she summed up the fallout from the 1960’s hippie types beautifully when she said something to the effect that they are perpetual adolescents: they loudly demand brightly lit playpens full of colorful toys, but they will settle for a dingy hovel if the alternative involves any type of effort or work (I wish I knew the exact quote). It’s quite clear that’s the model under which you and your fellow (one-way) “travelers” operate. You will demand that others provide nice accommodations and special considerations for you in a place you clearly can not afford, but you will be content to wallow in your filthy little ghetto of broken-down RVs surrounded by trash, complain about your predicament, and make others miserable with your presence than pursue other opportunities that would significantly improve your own standard of living. What other explanation IS there for that, other than you are lazy by nature (or just plain stupid)?

    https://qz.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/cipolla-matrix.jpg?quality=80&strip=all&w=640

    “NOTHING WILL MAKE ANY OF YOU HAPPY. EXCEPT MAYBE ERADICATING ALL HOMELESS.”

    Thanks for that viewpoint from the crazed loony perspective. And you really wonder why people don’t want you as a neighbor?

85. “ACCESS TO ILLICIT NARCOTICS?

    Yes, as well as prostitution and fencing stolen property. Saw this firsthand in the 1990’s when trying to track down a stolen bike and given a helpful hint as to who was fencing them (RV at the Marina and the infamous house with 100+ bikes in the backyard on the south side of Ashby). They way things roll, I doubt things have changed much.

86. “WE ARE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF WORN OUT BROKE REJECTS OF SOCIETY. ”

    Sounds like a personal problem.

    ” YOU ALL SEEM TO BE A BUNCH OF HAND ME DOWNS FROM THE ILLUMINATI. ”

    I didn’t know about that one. Do the Illuminati run some type of website where we can apply for our disbursements? I never received mine.

    “DO YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN TO PICK ON A BUNCH OF POOR PEOPLE?”

    I don’t believe there is anyone on this site who picks on people merely for being poor. Now, being stupid, ignorant, lazy and/or obnoxious, I think there are more than a few who think such folks are fair game.

    “STOP TRYING TO END OUR LIVES. ”

    There IS life after (or outside of) Berkeley. You should try it some time.

87. Veteran plates should have a code (small letters). Could be vanity plates.

88. “It’s almost as if he has a deep hatred for anybody creating value.”

    It’s a cardinal prerequisite of being a perpetually angry left-winger who operates under the zero-sum economic model embraced by the Bolshevists of the previous century.

89. Learned that lesson a long time ago. The chunk of skin out of my palms took a couple of weeks to heal.

90. City of Berkeley should show up with a big Bulldozer, mow it all down…ask for forgiveness later

91. We experienced six months of living hell thanks to Osha Neumann. Ever have the most stressful, infuriating aspect of your life happening 24/7 right outside your home? It’s almost as if he has a deep hatred for anybody creating value.

92. They should pick up and move, but note how they never do. Classic trait of lazy people, they would rather complain about their situation than do something about it themselves.

93. Really? Really big gates? Omg.

94. Enforce laws to criminalize being homeless. Take away peoples ability to live breathe eat sleep. Posted notices at the marina actually state an amount of time your allowed to eat or sleep.
    NONE OF YOU ARE WILLING TO HAVE LOW INCOME HOUSING HERE. NONE OF YOU WANT LOWER INCOME PEOPLE TO BE ABLE TO THRIVE IN THIS TOWN. THE PROBLEM WITH THAT IS THERE IS NOWHERE ELSE TO GO AND HALF OF US COULDNT GO FOR ONE REASON OR ANOTHER.
    NOTHING WILL MAKE ANY OF YOU HAPPY. EXCEPT MAYBE ERADICATING ALL HOMELESS. BUILD MORE FEMA CAMPS. OPEN UP THOSE RAILROAD TRACKS THAT JUST GOT REPAIRED THEN LIGHTLY COVERED UP. LINE UP ALL THE HOMELESS AND PUT THEM ON THE TRAINS AND GET THEM OUT OF OUR PRECIOUS BERKELEY VIEW.
    YOU SCARE ME TO DEATH. ALL OF YOU.

95. It would be an interesting experiment to pitch a tent someplace up in the hills and see what happens.

96. Free camping? You all dont get it. I DONT HAVE A HOME TO GO TO AFTER THIS CAMPING TRIP IS OVER.
    ACCESS TO ILLICIT NARCOTICS?
    ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT THE BERKELEY MARINA HAS SOME SUPER EASY DRUG CONNECTIONS? HOW ON EARTH DO YOU KNOW THAT? UNLESS YOU ARE BUYING IT OR SELLING IT?
    SOFT TARGETS FOR PANHANDLING AND THEFT?
    REALLY??? THERE IS NOT ONE PERSON WHO PANHANDLES AT THIS MARINA. THE CRIME RATE AT THIS MARINA IS LOWER THAN IT HAS BEEN IN YEARS. EXCEPT FOR THE LIES TOLD BY PEOPLE ON HERE AND BY BERKELEYS SPOKESPERSON.
    THIS IS ALL BUILDING UP TO BE A WHOLE LOT OF INSTIGATING TROUBLE MAKING HATEMONGERING.

97. move their heinikens – Bonus points for evading a trademark infringement claim from a certain brewery.

98. Show me Osha Neumann saying I want homesteaders rights. Show me where i ever said those things. Show me where i hired ANYONE ELSE TO SPEAK FOR ME.
    YOU CANT.
    NOW STOP LYING. WE ARE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF WORN OUT BROKE REJECTS OF SOCIETY. JUST BECAUSE THE LOT OF YOU DONT LIKE US DOESNT GIVE YOU THE RIGHT TO CREATE LIES ABOUT US. YOU ALL SEEM TO BE A BUNCH OF HAND ME DOWNS FROM THE ILLUMINATI. DO YOU HAVE NOTHING BETTER TO DO THAN TO PICK ON A BUNCH OF POOR PEOPLE? JUST BECAUSE WE DONT FIT INTO YOUR PERFECT IMAGE?
    STOP TRYING TO END OUR LIVES. BECAUSE THATS WHERE THIS WILL GO. HATE CAUSES HARM.

99. They told those vehicles to move there.

100. Well I think the city is not likely to make such payouts.. They are often fools, but I dont’ believe they are such HUGE fools as that. They have indicated that they will be doing construction in the area starting May 28 so in about a week we should see if they follow through. The difficulty with RVs is that they are costly to tow, so the city tries prodding these folks in every way before resorting to the expense of towing the bums out. However, the RV folks dont’ want to actually get towed, they just want to hang out as long as they can, so they will not move their heinikens until the tow trucks arrive. Once the towers arrive they will likely skeddadle pretty fast.

     What the city ought to do is put up concrete barricades so that no RVs can park in this area, and then put up signage clearly banning overnight parking not only in this area but anywhere in the Marina, except for in designated fee lots where folks will have to either have a permit (eg be a legit Marina resident/boater) or pay a fee to park overnight. All parking areas and lots at the Marina should be signed to prohibit overnight parking except in fee lots, where due to the cost of parking there, the squatters will not be likely to go for that.

101. Spot on!

102. End of story!

103. If you are correct then the only rational action is for you to leave. After all, you believe we’re trying to murder you and are terrified, right?

104. You’re right, this is a terrible place. You should definitely pack up and go somewhere where people are nicer and where you can get a job with the skills you have. This clearly is not that place.

105. Please post this information on “Next Door” so we can organize and submit multiple complaints every day

106. Hiring 5 more FTEs in a foolish attempt to offer services to people who don’t want them is structurally about the same thing — tearing up thousands of dollars for nothing.

107. I have often wondered how people are able to keep license plates from their home states for YEARS after moving to California and did not know how to report them. Thank you for sharing this information! I have even seen cars in Berkeley with EUROPEAN license plates!! Shocked that BPD does not chase these people down and ticket them!! https://www.chp.ca.gov/notify-chp/cheaters-out-of-state-(out-of-state-registration-violators)

108. It *will* happen, because of newcomers who don’t understand the situation and rich White people living in the hills who do not have to deal with the results of their “generosity” in their neighborhoods.

109. Good question. Jerry passed on to the Great Jam Session in the Sky a couple of decades back, so it’s not like they have been following him from show to show as of late.

110. Ask the Fruitvale taco truck guys (El Grullense) if they want to park one of their trucks there – I’m sure you can work out a quid-pro-quo deal.

111. FYI, I believe you need a couple more digits for that AZ plate, which will let you tell if it’s a commercial or fleet plate (often found on rental vehicles).

112. Can the half that can go, go?

     Move on to greener pastures. Too many haters here.

113. The actual message seems to be that if you can’t afford to rent or own (because you’re too lazy to work or won’t share an apt), come to Berkeley – we’re happy to host you – plus provide lots of freebies like 3 meals a day and free “medical” marijuana for the indigent at the dispensaries. Plus clothes, free medical, compassionate neighbors, quick with a handout, etc. We also tolerate a lot of personal quirks that might not be accepted elsewhere like relieving yourself in public, screaming, and spitting on passers-by.

     Berkeley does have some downsides – you might have to move your campsite if one of your co-campers goes off the rails and starts a fire or something and RVs might be asked to move every few days, but that’s rare and mostly not enforced. Also, if you wait long enough, Berkeley will put you into permanent housing, but you might have to first become an “activist” and testify at City Council meetings about how much the city is abusing you.

114. You can have empathy but advocate a tough love approach. Enabling people to keep sliding into an easy drugs n’ camping lifestyle is not helping them.

115. Yes that is exactly it. Simple common sense — if you can’t afford something, you dont’ buy it, if you can’t afford the rent here, you move somewhere else where you can afford to live.

     And like Stngythng says, what is the alternative? That we import tons of poor people here, who can’t afford to live here, and we pay for them to live here at much higher housing costs than they could be housed for elsewhere in the nation? That would be idiotic.

116. This information has not been verified, but I have heard that Osha Neumann, representing the RV dwellers, is demanding that the city pay them each $15,000 to get them to move out, claiming that they have been there so long that they have homesteader rights. “We’re not homesteaders, we are homeless” they have argued in the past. The hell you are! Osha has clarified the matter by pointing out your true intention, which is to (illegally) homestead on public land. You’re squatter freeloader homesteaders, definitely not “homeless” — you all have RV homes.

     For God’s sakes I wish the city would wake up and get a clue. This same thing happened at the Albany Bulb, so the city should realize the danger of leaving illegal encampments in place for any length of time (be they tent camps or RV camps). The level of entitlement of these vagrants has no limit, and they will exploit any angle to either squat where they are, or get big $ payouts.

     And Osha Neumann is a blight on the city, supporting one nuisance situation after another. Shame, shame, shame on him.

117. One law already in the Berkeley Municipal Code is:
     6.20.255 It is unlawful for the operator of any vehicle to stop, stand, park, or leave standing such vehicle, except when necessary to avoid conflict with other traffic or in compliance with the direction of a police officer or other authorized officer, or traffic sign or signal, on Seawall Drive, Spinnaker Way, Marina Boulevard and University Avenue between Frontage Road and Seawall Drive. (bolding added)
     [* * *]
     B. All other vehicles and trailers not defined as heavy duty commercial or over-sized vehicles in subsection A above are prohibited from parking in the above areas between the hours of 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. daily.

118. Amber was offered housing and chose to take the settlement instead. Probably bought the RV with the money she received.

119. Pretty sure enforcing laws IS the government’s job.

120. what would be the alternative?? Someone else paying your bills?

121. There you go, that’s a much better use of the street than bum and vagrant camping. Or, if folks dont’ want to rent out the Airstreams, just make them available for residents’ kids and relatives to stay in.

122. And, why wouldn’t people paying to store their RV’s in various fenced enclosures throughout the Bay Area just park their RV’s for free on the streets here?

     I can fit at least 8 26′ Airstream trailers on our street. Can probably rent them for $100 per night.

123. Will do! A few more to add to the list that have been parked here for months…
     Mid Size RV White/Brown Trim – currently parked on 8th and Gilman – Arizona Plate 37855
     White Mid Size RV – Currently parked on 7th and Gilman – Washington Plate BHD9778

124. If this is true, and the city council goes through with it, every homeowner in Berkeley should ban together and boycott paying out property taxes.

125. Adding fill would need to be approved by the BCDC.
     There is a Marina master plan that deserves to be updated.
     https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Parks_Rec_Waterfront/Marina/Marina_Master_Plan.aspx

126. Let’s stop calling them “homeless” and start calling them what they really are – squatters.

127. guess I was being a bit conservative 🙂

128. Near Cedar Rose park? Yeah, that guy has been there FOR YEARS, I called it into 311 when “growled” at me one morning when I was out walking my dog, they did nothing.

129. So the message is if you can’t afford to rent or own, get out of Berkeley because you’re too poor. That’s about it, right?

130. The more we spend the worse it gets!! The more compassion we show the more entitled the freeloaders get!! We are SICK AND TIRED of being used as doormats for every lazy addict in America who doesn’t want to have to work to make an honest living!!!

131. But why would they grow a spine? Would they want to face those Berkeley residents who will shame them as anti-homeless? Who will call them cruel and in-human and –wait for it –compare them to Donald Trump? To stand up to the homeless advocates is inviting ostracism from Berkeley. Dude, you’ll be a pariah!! It’s like standing up for the police–not allowed here. And that’s why the RV people won’t move until someone tows them out–they know Berkeley politics very very well.

132. It’s far enough away that anything built today will have reached the end of its useful life before then.

133. Here you go for convenience

     https://www.chp.ca.gov/notify-chp/cheaters-out-of-state-(out-of-state-registration-violators)

134. We have done this and they do respond. sometimes you have to post every morning as the vehicles do move around as we are all aware of…but they generally stay in same 2-3 block radius. The more of us who know of these vehicles we can all flood the CHP Cheaters site and make a real difference. Remember the squeaky wheel get the oil. For example, today the Red School bus decked out with party deck, expanded to almost 2 normal school bus sizes just moved from Grayson on the other side of his 7th by the Bayer parking lot to a location that is across 918 Parker near 7th today……Plates are South Dakota, 43U 403, Red school bus modified with while wood trim. It has been in area for over a year…..Try turning it in and we will do same. It’s become part of the morning routine looking for “Cheaters”

135. I am TIRED of these people. We need actual leadership within this community and not people that just want to feel good about themselves. Jesse has FAILED this city, all his friends in the local Gov have failed this city.
     Berkeley has become a complete embarrassment… Homeless people all over the places, trash and feces all over downtown, rapes, sexual assault, robbery. How many rapes need to happen before the city leaders address the CRIME problem within the city?

136. Does that mean we should not act to preserve the Marina?After all, a huge portion of the Bay Area was once mud flats, and was filled in to create dry land. Is adding fill now illegal or unacceptable? If we want to retain a Marina, we will have to raise it by 2-3 feet.

137. But, how do they get jobs in this campers paradises? 100 miles from the nearest place of employment? Keep in mind, being broke they have no way to do a long commute.

     Will you take your personal vechial to shuttle them to and from their jobs?

138. “People need food and water. Where do these people with ‘no commitments’ get the things they need to live in your idealistic campers paradise?”

     They get jobs.

     “Keep in mind, they have no money. ”

     Uh, what part of EMPLOYMENT do you NOT understand?

     (BTW, nice to see you couldn’t answer my question, most likely because even YOU know that you have no answer that makes any sense.)

139. Great tip. Have you actually tried this? Is there any CHP follow through?

140. Foster care can’t be any worse than having parents who are irresponsible lazy bums, teaching their children the same habits.

141. “100 miles from the nearest place of employment? ”

     Thanks for making it clear that you have no reasonable argument. You and your ilk are clearly not interested in working, only sponging off the resources paid for and provided by others. Nothing more than a bunch of spoiled children with an entitlement mentality.

142. Right to give time and money in Berkeley. Case closed! End of story!

143. Hotels, restaurants, and destination retail stores will all be under water this century. The citizens of Berkeley defeated such a plan in the 1980’s not even considering Bay rise. Now we know.

144. People need food and water. Where do these people with ‘no commitments’ get the things they need to live in your idealistic campers paradise? Keep in mind, they have no money. Or are you funding this personally?

     You are just so painfully ignorant… please just stop. You are robbing yourself of the time when you could be learning.

145. If you don’t have a job, what difference does it make again? In addition, most people would disagree with you. If they had an RV and no commitments, they would be somewhere near Yosemite or Yellowstone in the summer months, or maybe down in Joshua Tree or the Painted Desert in the winter, not semi-permanently homesteaded in some urban campground. What exactly makes it “living” to you, living on a pothole filled access road next to trash-strewn vacant lots? Is it the excitement of being surrounded by dysfunctionality, violence, and ready access to drugs? Comraderie with your fellow vagrants, most of whom dispensed with frivolities such as personal hygeine and regular dental care long ago, and who would liberate any personal possessions of yours that could get them a buck or two the minute your back is turned? The smug satisfaction of knowing you’re getting one over on “the man”, even though you’re wasting your life in the process? Think you’re going to be the next Steinbeck or Kerouac or Hunter S. Thompson and hit #1 on the NYT best-seller list with fond vignettes of your escapades among the lost souls next to the bay? Do tell us…

146. Quite true if they are hanging around some touristy spot that wants to maintain a welcoming atmosphere for the Angelenos who make the weekly trek on I-10.

147. …in Berkeley case closed!

148. Right to make a total ignorant ass out of yourself every time you post that drivel.

149. I take a slightly different view on this .

     I say that if this city is tolerating people living in vehicles on the street why should area residents fail to exploit the opportunity for their own advantage ?

     Neighborhood residents need to get together, boot the RV freeloaders, bums vagrants and druggies off their streets.

     And then the neighbors can get togethe and buy some really nice airstream trailers, set them up on the street, and rent them out on Airbnb to short term guests. They could then pool the Airbnb Airstream proceeds and use the funds in part to build large locking gates for their streets so that only area residents can drive on their street. And/or use the money to do remodeling on their own homes .

     This will solve several problems at once.

     it will remove the plague of vagrants from the streets

     it will introduce a more gentrified and pleasant element of people (tourists) to the streets.

     It will allow people who actually legally live in the neighborhood to control their own streets and profit from any dwelling activity that is going on in the streets.

     It will raise funds that the neighborhood can use to protect and beautify the neighborhood in ways that the city refuses to do.

     This all flows from the following rationale: if there is an RV parked in front of my house, it darn well better be my own RV.

150. To live in Berkeley you have to pay lots lots lots of taxes (either directly twice a year or indirectly each month)…. if you cannot pay taxes, please go where you are not going to be crucified paying taxes (unless you are Mr. Lee or Mr. Zint and the city hall can give you a free-ride [free food, free housekeeping, free hot water, free gas, free electricity, free Internet, free housing without asking for a penny from your social security retirement] ); it is the best recommendation…. go where life is cheaper; Berkeley sucks!!!

151. Which is why the city needs a better plan than just kicking the can down the road.
     The best plan is to enforce the laws already on the books, which prohibit parking RVs anywhere on public streets in the city overnight. Most cities have such a law. It’s common sense that this law is needed and needs to be enforced everywhere. Widespread enforcement of these laws will direct people in RVs to the places where they can legitimately stay for longer periods of time.

     If the city of Berkeley fails to adequately protect neighborhoods from the plague of RV dwellers and other vehicle dwellers, I suggest that area residents start blocking the street in front of their homes with whatever means are available. Either buy a cheap used vehicle and park it in front of your own house, or block off the area with orange cones, or set up an outdoor seating area on the street in front of your house, or put large potted plants on the street in front of your house, or set up concrete barricades to block the street, or use your imagination in other ways to stop the plague.

     If enough residents start doing this, the city will get the message that if the city fails to protect neighborhoods, neighbors will start taking matters into their own hands and protecting their neighborhood themselves.

     One of the reasons for cities to enforce laws adequately is to prevent lawlessness, on the one hand, and semi-vigilante responses to lawlessness, on the other.

152. At least there is a mechanism for out-of-state long term CA residents living in and around Berkeley playing the 72 hr Whack a Mole game….google CHP Cheaters and follow the very simple directions (less than 5 minutes) if you have the information. It does bring in Revenues for SMOG and Registration violations.

     From site:

     Cheaters: Out-of-State (Out of State Registration Violators)

     ​

     ​

     ​Did you know that the State of California loses millions of dollars a year in revenue from California residents who unlawfully register their vehicles in other states or countries?

     Did you know that vehicle registration fees are due immediately upon accepting employment or establishing residency in the State of California?

     Did you know that California law permits only 20 days to complete the process of registering your vehicle without paying a penalty?

     Click here to fill out the online Cheaters form.

     Information

     The three most common reasons for not completing the registration process are:

     1. People are unaware of California registration laws.

     2. People are evading payments of registration fees and taxes.

     3. People are unable to comply with air pollution control laws.

153. Very true and this is critical to really understanding the homeless situation on Berkeley. 1) HOMESTEADERS-freeloaders, lifestylers and the such, 2) HOMELESS (due to age/Circumstance, Mental illness) and 3) Homeless due to criminal repeat offenders. If we take on sGroup 1 and 3 out of the mix it will make dealing with true homelessness with more compassion and focus. Unfortunately, Berkeley has to grow up and contend with these issues head on.

154. Now that you’re a housed resident, when do you plan on getting your act together and getting a REAL job, one that allows you to collect a real paycheck and do things like pay rent?

     Or was this whole “housing first” thing a ruse to get one over on the local taxpayers?

155. Right to violate the law?

     BMC 6.20.255 Over-sized Vehicle Parking Prohibited On Public Streets In The Marina Area

     I obey the law; I’m sure you do too. Is it unreasonable to expect others to obey the law too?

156. so affordable housing on the bay…wow….how do I sign up for that opportunity. Don’t work, lounge all day, camp by night and then I get cheap housing with a view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge. Brilliant idea.

157. Any rationale for this statement, or just another knee jerk reply of yours?

158. Apparently you haven’t been to the marina recently to see the revitalization in progress. I don’t know the full extent of the plans but areas around the yacht club are under construction and the main road will be redone. I agree that there’s a ton of untapped potential down there. How is “Skates” the best option?!

159. excellent idea!

160. air horn

161. Funny how the complaints of working, productive people are always irrelevant to you.

162. We all damn well know what it means.

163. Even Slab City has rules, some of which the local vagrants would find offensive to their sensibilities.

164. How about a raised road then? A low elevation bridge of sorts. Question is how to secure it, if the underlying land is shifting mush landfill.

     Alternatively, I’d prefer a maintained dirt road to the awful paved one we have now.

165. Why do you insist on living somewhere when you clearly can not afford to do so, other than because you’re clearly not very intelligent?

166. ““If we could just be granted an empty parking lot of some unused property””

     With a shoreline view to boot. I believe we have a name for that – “sense of entitlement”.

167. Funny how we keep coming back to this point, the vagrants insisting that employment somewhere else is just not an option.

168. Just because you look for every excuse not to have one, doesn’t mean that none are available.

169. Employment is a good thing, especially if it’s in a location where you can afford the local cost of living. Some of these people should try it some time.

170. RIght to spout nonsense and make fictitious comments.

171. The vast majority of your so-called “rights” are fabricated. Why do you desire to live in a place you clearly can not afford?

172. I don’t think they can right now as the RVs are blocking the area.

173. You’re absolutely right, these people have found their “home” regardless of whether they are living in conventional housing or not. Free camping, access to illicit narcotics, and soft targets for panhandling and theft – a vagrant’s paradise.

174. This is what I don’t get, the Albany Bulb was shut down years ago, right? But the RVs have only been showing up in the last few months? So if the RVs have nowhere else to go, where have they been all this time?

175. I read the article, seems you did not.

176. Edited, thank you.

177. if you follow the laws.

178. because our police department is being neutered by the council and police review commission.

179. we spend millions on the homeless and it’s like a black hole.
     crime and garbage is out of control. many sidewalks are impassible.
     the empathy tank is tapped out.

180. That’s son of Billy Graham the preacher man. Not Bill Graham, the concert man. Just to be clear.

181. Probably because the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department takes a different approach to vagrants.

182. @Woolsey. Lilly’s having a sale!

183. Sounds like you haven’t been paying attention to what is going on with illegal camping in this area for some time now. If you had paid attention to the amount of entitlement among illegal campers — not all homeless, some are homesteaders and “lifestylers” who could live in houses but prefer vehicles — you would certainly empathize with the lack of empathy for these people exploiting a weak system or dysfunctionally overtolerant system.

184. Statements in this very article.

185. We need to first get rid of the HOMESTEADERS (Individuals who choose camper/RV/Van living by choice and as a lifestyle. They are likely working or freeloading in the area. This is a HOMESTEADERs (RV, Van and camper) vs. HOMELESSNESS issue. Get rid of HOMESTEADERS first, then start figuring out how best to deal with the dire situation with Homelessness derived from Mental illness, age, and criminal convictions/loopholes. Dealing with this issue alone avoids the polarized views of both sides of the argument. The HOMESTEADERS are not from CA or at least their license plates suggest this…they pollute our air (SMOG) and use our trash, (or not) and generally don’t recycle (Which we have to pay a heavy premium for) and they use our roads that we pay taxes for that are supported in part by revenues generated from licensing, SMOG testing certifications etc. That money theoretically can be used to offset other concerns we talk about daily on Next-door, Berkeleyside etc. Even the woman Amber Whitson in the photo above is from Albany, but she can’t park her and her husband’s camper in Albany (No overnight parking) however she chooses to live in Berkeley because of their lax rules. Their facebook postings are of family fun, holidays and adventures that we all post on our Facebook postings. They are not what we call Homeless…they are freeloaders! (HOMESTEADERS…shame on Berkeleyside for choosing them as front cover photo ops.

     Berkeley’s parking enforcement with the 72 hr rule and red tag is a whack a mole situation and it needs to change. Parking enforcement does what they can, rules have to change, NO OVERNIGHT CAMPING RULES or oversized vehicle parking are regular and customary in most communities. (Albany, Alameda, San Mateo, El Cerrito etc.)

     With that said, there is an interesting CHP CHEATERS online reporting system for vehicles of all kinds that reside in the area for more than 20 days that are FROM OUT OF STATE and are in violation of CA SMOG and REGISTRATION requirements (Almost guaranteed that SMOG will not pass on most of the out of state vehicles in question) at the Marina or NOW the one’s that are migrating to our area by 9th and 10th streets and Carleton and Parker. that appear to be “HOMESTEADERS” who live, potentially work and use Berkeley as their own FREE SOCIETY without consequences.

     The regular offenders in our area are the FOOLS BUS (Yellow bus with several young individuals who bike to work, live on bus that has Washington plates and two vehicles behind it as their “commuter cars.” The other is the growing monstrostity, The RED school bus with window air-condtioners, Newly installed Mahogany party deck and an extra level for multiple unit living arrangements….4 young 25 year plus males converge on this vehicle in their free time to modify this safety, SMOG producing hazard from South Dakota of all places! It’s been in the are for over 1 year.

     CHP has an anonymous ONLINE hotline that takes less than 5 minutes to turn in REGISTRATION CHEATERS of which many of the HOMESTEADERS are. License, location, how long believed to be in area etc. CHP pulls in $10-14M more per year from CHEATERS and Car registration offenders. If I recall, 40% of revenues from this come back to the communities where a vehicle is cited.

     https://www.chp.ca.gov/noti…

     It’s a start, not a total solution but it does attempt to put Berkeley’s true residents all on the same side of the fence vs. deciding how to handle true homelessness. Our fear is that the buses, vans and RVs are already coming to a neighborhood near you….taking up valuable business parking, neighborhood parking, in addition to the added SMOG and water pollution that comes from directly allowing waste water into our sewers and air. So much for “Hippies and the such who feel they are saving the environment….as long as it doesn’t impact them! (As in the HOMESTEADERS in question)

     Spread the word, we can all help turn in the culprits…as an important first step.

186. so affordable housing on the bay…wow….how do I sign up for that opportunity. Don’t work, lounge all day, camp by night and then I get cheap housing with a view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate bridge. Brilliant idea.

187. There are plenty of actions you could take to make their presence near your home physically uncomfortable and challenging for them. Use your imagination. Sometimes you need to stand up for yourself.

188. Unemployment is down to 2% in the rust belt for unskilled workers. No excuses left!

189. Nothing could be further from the truth.

190. Civil rights violation. Right to complain in Berkeley. Right to fabricate complaints in Berkeley.

191. Too many, too long, too much filth, too many drugs, too many crazies, too much crime – and the able bodied need to get over themselves and become Walmart greeters in Flint.

192. “due to the nature of the land underneath, it will always revert to washboard” What does this mean? What is wrong with the underneath?

193. THis is the kind of CRAZY that the Mayor invites to Berkeley by making Berkeley a haven for lazy bums and giving these people attention at city council meetings.

194. It is not the governments job to provide you with free parking space for your run down RV.

195. Homeless bum complaints are irrelevant. Go to some other city if your [sic] not happy. No right to live in Berkeley!!

196. BAN LARGE RV PARKING ON PUBLIC STREETS. It is illegal in a LOT of cities in California and they are better for it!!

197. NO. SUCH. RIGHT. EXISTS.

198. Clean it up first and THEN the destination tenants will want to come!

199. Will the city still dump compost there?

200. 100 miles from nowhere. This is living not camping.

201. That’s a nice vacation, but you better add up your gas cost before you start if it’s your life. #protip

202. Homesteaders: you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

203. 72hrs != “permanently”

204. If they are breaking environmental laws, then charge them like you would anyone else. No need for special laws.

205. I wrote an Op-Ed for Berkeleyside not that long ago, where and I ventured my opinion that some people that we are calling homeless are actually homesteaders.

     https://www.berkeleyside.org/2018/02/02/opinion-homeless-stay-called-homesteaders

     Some responded no they were definitely not homesteaders they are homeless.

     But now we see Osha arguing that no they are in fact homesteaders.

     Apparently the game is exploit whatever name gives you the most mileage.

     I’ll say it again: these RV folks are homesteaders and they would love to live along the street at the Berkeley Marina for the next 10, 20 or 50 years. And They will stay there until someone grows a Spine.

206. I lived in my wagon on the street for 1-1/2 years. I stuck to the 72-hour rule and things worked out. I wouldn’t want to do so today, a few years later, but I have a new wagon, should the need arise.. (I should say I have an apartment now, but just in case..)

207. No right to dump human waste in Berkeley. RV toilets have to dumped at an approved dump station. It is dangerous and unsanitary to dump human waste in our marina.

208. Glad you support massive new housing construction to meet the demands of this magical “right”!

209. By the way… the Willard swimming pools are still filled with dirt…. hundreds of kids from poor families in Berkeley don’t know how to swim …some teenagers have drown during the past summers ….. keep robbing the taxes from our kids …… home depot is still hiring mr zint!!!

210. Congratulation … you are alive and well. three years ago someone told me here that your were terminally ill . Congrats!!!!

211. Put a shut off valve inside your house or a lock on it.

212. pretty close….. have seen a car parked for over two weeks next to the park. Complete with potted plants, et al.

213. We need to first get rid of the HOMESTEADERS (Individuals who choose camper/RV/Van living by choice and as a lifestyle. They are likely working or freeloading in the area. This is a HOMESTEADERs (RV, Van and camper) vs. HOMELESSNESS issue. Get rid of HOMESTEADERS first, then start figuring out how best to deal with the dire situation with Homelessness derived from Mental illness, age, and criminal convictions/loopholes. Dealing with this issue alone avoids the polarized views of both sides of the argument. The HOMESTEADERS are not from CA or at least their license plates suggest this…they pollute our air (SMOG) and use our trash, (or not) and generally don’t recycle (Which we have to pay a heavy premium for) and they use our roads that we pay taxes for that are supported in part by revenues generated from licensing, SMOG testing certifications etc. That money theoretically can be used to offset other concerns we talk about daily on Next-door, Berkeleyside etc. Even the woman Amber Whitson in the photo above is from Albany, but she can’t park her and her husband’s camper in Albany (No overnight parking) however she chooses to live in Berkeley because of their lax rules. Their facebook postings are of family fun, holidays and adventures that we all post on our Facebook postings. They are not what we call Homeless…they are freeloaders! (HOMESTEADERS…shame on Berkeleyside for choosing them as front cover photo ops.

     Berkeley’s parking enforcement with the 72 hr rule and red tag is a whack a mole situation and it needs to change. Parking enforcement does what they can, rules have to change, NO OVERNIGHT CAMPING RULES or oversized vehicle parking are regular and customary in most communities. (Albany, Alameda, San Mateo, El Cerrito etc.)

     With that said, there is an interesting CHP CHEATERS online reporting system for vehicles of all kinds that reside in the area for more than 20 days that are FROM OUT OF STATE and are in violation of CA SMOG and REGISTRATION requirements (Almost guaranteed that SMOG will not pass on most of the out of state vehicles in question) at the Marina or NOW the one’s that are migrating to our area by 9th and 10th streets and Carleton and Parker. that appear to be “HOMESTEADERS” who live, potentially work and use Berkeley as their own FREE SOCIETY without consequences.

     The regular offenders in our area are the FOOLS BUS (Yellow bus with several young individuals who bike to work, live on bus that has Washington plates and two vehicles behind it as their “commuter cars.” The other is the growing monstrostity, The RED school bus with window air-condtioners, Newly installed Mahogany party deck and an extra level for multiple unit living arrangements….4 young 25 year plus males converge on this vehicle in their free time to modify this safety, SMOG producing hazard from South Dakota of all places! It’s been in the are for over 1 year.

     CHP has an anonymous ONLINE hotline that takes less than 5 minutes to turn in REGISTRATION CHEATERS of which many of the HOMESTEADERS are. License, location, how long believed to be in area etc. CHP pulls in $10-14M more per year from CHEATERS and Car registration offenders. If I recall, 40% of revenues from this come back to the communities where a vehicle is cited.

     https://www.chp.ca.gov/notify-chp/cheaters-out-of-state-(out-of-state-registration-violators)

     It’s a start, not a total solution but it does attempt to put Berkeley’s true residents all on the same side of the fence vs. deciding how to handle true homelessness. Our fear is that the buses, vans and RVs are already coming to a neighborhood near you….taking up valuable business parking, neighborhood parking, in addition to the added SMOG and water pollution that comes from directly allowing waste water into our sewers and air. So much for “Hippies and the such who feel they are saving the environment….as long as it doesn’t impact them! (As in the HOMESTEADERS in question)

     Spread the word, we can all help turn in the culprits…as an important first step.

214. Remember , this post, i remembah.

     https://www.berkeleyside.org/2015/11/23/berkeleys-72-hour-parking-limit-is-outdated-discriminatory-and-needs-to-go

215. It is not governments job to help your business parking or otherwise.

216. Go outside, meet your neighbors, be friendly and this scenario will become a lot less likely. Friends don’t call in the cars of their friends, they just ask them to move if they need to. Also don’t own more cars than can fit in front of or on your property. Don’t take more than you need. Be respectful of your neighbors and neighborhood. I never park in front of a neighbors house unless my spots are all taken. My neighbors know that as soon as something frees up I will move it in front of my house, even if I don’t need to and wasn’t asked to do so.

217. Then maybe we can start adding registered owner address to the information gathered with each red tag. If the location is within 1 block of your registered address then the strikes don’t count. There, amendment created, passed and ratified. Remember this is only for cars that haven’t moved in 72 hours, not people that come in and out throughout the day.

218. Slab City

219. You get a red tag saying to move; if it’s still on the car 3 days later [i.e., “proof”] they can tow you. They might also chalk mark the tire – I don’t know…
     It’s a very reactive program, totally dependent on complaints.

220. What actual evidence do you have to back up your assertion that RV residents assault Berkeley tax payers? Rational people use fact-based arguments.

221. There is no such thing as permanently appropriating a parking space.

222. your comment is wholly nonresponsive to my comment.

223. I am challenged to understand why so many commenters on this site don’t feel even rudimentary empathy for the homeless.

     The way the 72 hour parking rule works in every city I have lived in and I have lived on both coasts and a few Midwestern states is the same: 72 hours and if the cops become aware the car has been there 72 hours, it gets a ticket. Cops generally have to look for some actual proof that the car has been in one spot for 3 days; they can’t just take the word of someone reporting it so often this means the cops mark the car somehow and start counting them.

     Once someone gets a ticket for parking too long in one spot, all they have to do is move to another spot.

     In order for the police to treat 72 hour parking violations differently, the law has to be changed.

224. oh, Lordy, so *you* “saved” the post office….. are you going to do a stinking thing to maintain, support that aging seismic nightmare???
     So amazing you have access to the internet, with NO JOB

225. I have attended meetings in that Doubletree and had colleagues stay there so I have seen the rooms. I never would apply the adjective ‘posh’ to that motel. It, for the Bay Area, kinda cheap and kinda bleak.

     As far as the city cutting deals with developers, the city could also ‘cut deals’ with nonprofit housing developers to develop middle class but affordable housing. Affordable housing is not automatically shabby.

226. The complaints are all fabricated. I go down there often. No problems.

227. Nope. Right to live in Berkeley.

228. People who buy an RV, knowing it’s not a viable option to live in it in a way that is permitted anywhere, do not deserve to be enabled and supported in their bad decision making by any city whatsoever.

229. Did you read the article? The deal is that the marina isn’t intended to be a homeless encampment and the hotel that gives $3 million per year in tax revenue to the city shouldn’t have to put up with it

230. Hey intec – you said you were in Palm Springs til Sunday!? You were going to bring me back some swim trunks designed by Mr. Turk.

231. you do realize calling in a complaint has been a classic form of revenge towards a neighbor you don’t like…

232. report to 311? I mean, they’ve done nothing about the homeless encampment in my neighborhood, that is situated in the tall grass right up against people’s fences, and that seems to have a BBQ next to their tents… but hey maybe it’ll work for you?

233. Yes let’s close all the businesses so more people can exercise their “right” to limitless free parking.

234. here’s wishing the best for you!

235. Free parking is not a civil right.

236. Is that why I got housed? I’m a con artist? I seem to have paid with my time to help save your post office. 17 months of my life for the residents of Berkeley. I helped many of the homeless by providing 24 hour a day services out of that shack. Food, water, library, periodicals, information, and a free box. I confronted your corrupt government and police department and I got in their face. I did not back down. And I changed things.

     Keep commenting. Maybe it too will accomplish something.

237. Families with kids should have access to free-housing in berkeley over drifters like Mr Lee and Mr. Zint. (this comment has been moderated)

238. I wonder if the city is doing this parking lot work at the Marina as a way to push out some homeless people. And I wonder why there are so many streets in serious need of repair to make them safe but that this parking lot at the marina is a priority? What’s the deal?

239. Thrilled for a civil rights violation. So much for Berkeley values.

240. I thought this would go well with my robes… https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/0a01a23833173636f40a3d73662db6b05b4e93fc6799079ab4006628101d9940.jpg

241. Wrong. Foster care is way worse.

242. Nope. I like a welcoming community that respects an Americans right to live in Berkeley.

243. No jobs out there. But irrelevant right to live in Berkeley.

244. You call, they get a red tag, they move the RV or school bus, or whatever.
     You do realize, that or whatever is your car, parked on the street in front of your neighbors house, who phones it in whenever you park there.

245. Right to live in berkeley. Right to reject services that don’t help.

246. Civil rights violation.

247. Small business complaints are irrelevent. Move your business elsewhere if your not happy.

248. Yes it is. Right to live in Berkeley
     Right to live in a vehicle.

249. Confiscation is theft. Right to live in a vehicle in Berkeley.

250. Real help comes from within. The world owes you, and me, and everyone else, nothing.

251. “Days are numbered” Hahahahahaha! Under Jesse, what’s the number? 5,000? 2 million? Hahahahaha.

     But I can answer the question, “Where should we go?” How about “Where you came from?”l Cue, “Cotton Eyed Joe”

252. Can something also be done about the 72-hour rule on the streets? You call, they get a red tag, they move the RV or school bus, or whatever. They sit for another week or two. You call again, they get a red tag, they move a block or two. Repeat cycle. Can the police/parking enforcement maybe start tracking which vehicles get red-tagged and maybe, after 5 or 10 red-tags, that vehicle gets towed/impounded/confiscated? We are just playing musical-chairs down here with all the RVs and it doesn’t help calling in anymore since everyone just moves until they get called in again. The streets will soon get a lot more RVs and buses once the marina clears out, and it is only common sense to plan ahead, be proactive and get it done. 10 strikes and you’re out? Something?

253. Amber was one of the more vocal, uh, residents at the former Albany Bulb encampment. Pretty sure she received a settlement to leave. Would not surprise me if she was holding out for a similar handout from Berkeley.

254. True!

255. Because Intec says so….

256. Small business closed! end of story!

257. right to rotflmao

258. case closed! end of story!

259. I agree with the goal, but not the argument that these are connected. We can enforce the law without waiting for the attractants.

260. Creating “structured parking” on Marina Blvd. will not make the displaced RV campers find a legal spot to park and camp, it will only drive them to other parts of Berkeley. Focused enforcement supported by the Council and the City Manager’s Office directed toward those violating laws could help, but our City Administration doesn’t have a strong track record in that area. I’ve watched for nearly three decades as the City has pushed problems that negatively impact community safety and quality of life from one part of the City to another, without ever truly addressing the core issues. This situation seems no different.

     Over the years, I’ve had many opportunities to speak to individuals living in RVs in Berkeley. I understand that many are facing hardships and are trying to take care of themselves the best they can, but how someone lives their life in a public place or on city streets should not negatively impact the lives of those around them. Is it unreasonable to feel that way?

261. There’s an episode of “Intervention” about a vagabond alcoholic twenty-something guy that travels up and down the West Coast drinking himself to death. There’s a brief segment about him bouncing into Berkeley, finding some junk in a dumpster, and setting up shop on Telegraph to “sell” it, happily exclaiming “I LOVE Berkeley!”

262. oh, plenty of folks would hire you to do yard/house work -if they could trust you….

263. maybe they’ll be his caravan of followers

264. They plan to put K rails at right angles to the road.

265. yeah, may be reading it wrong. Hope they’re paying for the privilege, and will pay for clean-up….

266. These rolling wrecks are the plaques in our traffic atherosclerosis.

267. You have to admit, though, that the new Bay Trail spur is pretty sweet.

268. What about them? You think that living next to the road in the marina is ideal?

269. Most of the Marina is in very poor condition, and looks plain seedy.The RV campers fit right in, except for the poshness of the Doubletree, which charges $20 per day for parking within their facility. There is very low usage of the area on a daily basis considering its size.
     If Berkeley really wants RV campers and other “undesirables” to stay away, it needs to attract “successful” and “affluent” people to fill the gap. The city could cut deals with some well-funded developers and get more hotels, restaurants, and destination retail stores built there; and the roads and landscaping completely reconstructed. And get many more millions of dollars in tax revenues in the process.

270. Yes, I too would like some valuable land for free.

271. Good question… this particular one is a creepy van with curtains, not an RV, that I picked trash up from this morning. But there are PLENTY of full size RVs, decrepit commercial trucks and converted buses that park here, too.

272. I know it sounds pretty futile but I would call BPD with the plate so they can at least run it and see if it comes back stolen, or if there are active wants or warrants for the RO.

273. I have a job, and so do most of the posters here. Work is available to those who really want it.

274. Small businesses in parts of West Berkeley that rely on street parking for our customers have been feeling the pinch economically for years from illegal RV/bus parking. It’s no joke and now looks to get worse if RVs move from the Marina. So far, the City, from district supervisors through the Transportation department to the Mayor of have shown zero interest in helping us. Afters years of requests and complaints, nothing has happened and no one even responds, with the exception of the Parking Enforcement department, who valiantly-and futilely-tag the vehicles weekly, only to have them move 50 feet and start their three day parking over again.

275. “Confiscation is theft”

     When you permanently appropriate a parking space on a public street, what else do you think you’re doing again?

276. “GIMMIE GIMMIE!!!”

277. “Berkeley is a more welcoming community than those in the rural parts of California ” THAT IS EXACTLY THE PROBLEM, and why we have so many freeloaders on our streets!!!

278. The road has been fixed many times, but due to the nature of the land underneath, it will always revert to washboard in a relatively short time.

279. As far back as the mid-eighties, folks have parked their RVs on the road into the Marina. They get evicted, they go away, time passes, they return. There are no RV hookup facilities at the Marina. For hygiene and environmental reasons alone, there should be no RVs parked there. If you don’t like this, find another city who allows this, if it is so reasonable a request. Can’t find one? Yeah, because it’s an unreasonable expectation.

280. life’s rough!

281. Wouldn’t it be cheaper to just draw lines in the dirt with chalk around the RV’s and start charging the occupants rent for the space. If they don’t pay, padlock the doors to the rv shut. It seems that what these people want is a place to live for free. Take away the “free” part and they will move on.

282. mockingbirds have returned!

283. I’m sure there’s more than one engineer willing to take on the challenge!

284. he who speaks of “irrelevant….”

285. ummmm, nope.

286. Hopefully Franklin Graham, will be the real Christian he claims to be and offer a place to live, shelter, food, and help getting back on their feet to all the RV residents.

287. lol. Sadly he seems to have come back early.

288. Next you’ll be telling us the RV residents have the right to physically assault Berkeley tax payers, CASED CLOSED right?

289. While they’re at it how about repaving the roller-coaster road into the marina?

290. Have you ever driven your car or rode your bike on the road into the marina? It is a pothole nightmare.

291. Plenty of LEGAL free places if they want, too! https://freecampsites.net/how-to-find-more-sites/

292. THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO ALREADY BE MOVED!!! Why aren’t the police going by there every night and kicking them out?!? Why are the highly paid parking enforcement staff of the city of Berkeley NOT ENFORCING OUR PARKING LAWS???

293. We can put a man on the moon. We can build roads that are smoother than a lunar surface, even at the marina.

294. Let the State of CA and the federal government set up RV parks for the homeless. They can afford it.

295. I don’t think they plan on building a parking garage. When they say structure, I think they mean adding the K-rails, paving and drawing white lines for car parking spaces.

296. Nope. Right to live in Berkeley.

297. There is no real help. That is why she is in an RV in the first place.

298. Threats/noticed etc that are never followed through with are nothing but paper waste. The so called environmentally-focused city council should stop littering and start acting.

299. CASED CLOSED! END OF STORY!

300. Unfortunately, driving 60 miles a day is not an option for most indigent campers. Even a small RV only gets around 10 miles per gallon of gas. Big ones can be lucky to get 5mpg. Other options include BLM land or national forests which include free camping for 14 days at a time. For those who are disabled, a free camping pass can be obtained for national parks. State parks are discounted by 50 percent. There are also many RV parks with rent less than $400 throughout California. Not all of them are far, you can find a pretty cheap place in lake county.

301. Wait– the city is subsidizing a “religious festival”??? WTF
     Where? in the dog park?
     Sheesh

302. I also suspect it is close proximity to drug dealers. I don’t know, but it seems reasonable to find out if illegal drug sales are the lure.

303. They need to fix the road to the marina!

304. Self serve free camping spots will inevitably attract nefarious elements. How does the free camping at the Salton Sea possibly work?

     Note to city: making the parking spots shallower so you can’t park an RV perpendicular to the road just means the vehicles will park parallel to the road. You may need to consult some experts in defensive architecture.

305. Wherever there’s a productive taxpayer in danger of not being kept awake at night by a vagrant screaming at the sky, Osha Neumann is there.

306. Whitson. you don’t understand that anyone living in Berkeley has to pay taxes: lots of taxes indeed. Sorry, you have to move to some place where you don’t need to pay taxes or give up your polluting old junk and join the Mayor in his political agenda; he will put you in the expedite list to get you a free apartment in Berkeley like he did con Mr Lee, and Mr Zint … try that. Mr Arreguin will put you ahead on the waiting list… so easy!!! Free Apartment in Berkeley : NO TAXES FOR YOU.

307. Of course you’re being flippant and callous, as if gasoline were free and keeping an RV on the road doesn’t cost a lot of money for maintenance. Also, Berkeley is a more welcoming community than those in the rural parts of California where a stranger showing up in an RV is going to be treated even worse than they are here.

308. Why not? she already got free money from the City of Albany.

309. What about the kids?

310. A religious festival at Cesar Chavez Park with Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham! What fun. Here’s the skinny:
     https://california.billygraham.org/event/berkeley/
     Will Amber and the Campers attend to hear the Word?

311. Right to live in Berkeley. Right to reject all services. [intec is on vacation but asked me to stand in for him]

312. The homeless card is almost as effective as the race card. “We have nowhere to go,” so Berkeley lets them stay and do their drugs and rob the citizens. The only thing that surprises me is that we don’t have a couple thousand more homeless here, but perhaps that’s in our future.

313. I picked up several bags of trash this morning from an RV that dumped them. License plate 8CCN244 is particularly trash producing.

314. Would you consent to making ourselves a wee bit less welcoming so at least new vagrants continue down the road to the next exit?

315. While I am thrilled to see the city doing something to prevent people from taking over public property into perpetuity, while paying nothing and having zero responsibility for their actions… these people will have to go somewhere else. The city MUST enforce the 22+ foot law and camping laws if they kick these people out, otherwise, they will continue to clog the streets of West Berkeley and Oceanview. There are literally dozens of RVs in those neighborhoods now. Some RV dwellers keep to themselves. Others dump their trash on our streets and plenty are outright violent if you so much as even look at them.
     It is not okay to turn our neighborhoods into RV parks. No city in the US would vote for allowing hundreds of RVs to come and clog their streets. Yes, these people should be allowed somewhere to go… but not on our residential streets, and not on our marina. As a city we are continually taken advantage of because of our lax laws.

316. ?Stolen plate?

317. lax enforcement

318. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slab_City,_California

319. Dumb question, but that plate # in the passenger series (1 number, 3 letters, 3 numbers). Don’t RVs above a certain weight have to have a commercial plate (5 numbers, 1 letter, 1 number)?

320. “Of course you’re being flippant and callous, as if gasoline were free and keeping an RV on the road doesn’t cost a lot of money for maintenance. ”

     Then maybe it’s time to sell the RV and get a job.

     “Also, Berkeley is a more welcoming community than those in the rural parts of California where a stranger showing up in an RV is going to be treated even worse than they are here.”

     So you’re telling us that other communities are less welcoming of bums, hobos and vagrants than Bezerkeley? Who’da thunk it?

321. “Unfortunately, driving 60 miles a day is not an option for most indigent campers.”

     Hmm, maybe they need to get jobs somewhere in the cheap rent district and park their rigs in an RV camping ground.

     “For those who are disabled, a free camping pass can be obtained for national parks. State parks are discounted by 50 percent. There are also many RV parks with rent less than $400 throughout California. Not all of them are far, you can find a pretty cheap place in lake county.”

     Sounds like there’s the solution right there.

322. That would, indeed, be a new approach…

323. We don’t need a new approach. We need enforcement of existing laws.

324. “The
     notices warned the campers they could be towed, but the city hasn’t
     followed through on that threat, Chakko said.”

     How much do we pay COB employees to not enforce the laws??? Pathetic.

325. I’ve no idea what their “real reason” might be, and neither does anyone else, but I take your point; I’m tired of being everyone’s favorite little west-coast city.

326. “Whitson said the people living in trailers, including some who have kids or serious health problems, and can’t afford steep local rents, have no idea where to go next.”

     How about taking I-80 (or I-580) east? If I had a working RV but no job or money to afford rent in Berkeley, I wouldn’t be hanging out there. CALTrans operates free rest stops every 60 miles or so in the rural parts of this state, with restroom, picnic benches, trash cans and even RV wastewater disposal, and you are permitted to stay in them for up to 16 hours. Very easy solution: spend the night in one rest stop, then drive down the road a couple of hours to the next one. Hang out somewhere nice, like up in the Sierras or near Yosemite or Mammoth. Or would that eliminate the real reason many of these people camp out in Berkeley, which is close proximity to drugs?

327. A new parking structure, at the Marina? How high – five or seven stories? 🙂

     I see many sleeping vehicles parked in West Berkeley. Buses, RVs, station wagons… most keep their contents contained, but too many spill out garbage and waste onto streets and sidewalks. I hope the new approach will work for all roads and lots in the city.

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