{"id":62055,"date":"2025-06-11T22:56:00","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T05:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/?p=62055"},"modified":"2025-11-10T15:26:51","modified_gmt":"2025-11-10T23:26:51","slug":"sf-rv-crackdown-weaponized-parking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/sf-rv-crackdown-weaponized-parking\/","title":{"rendered":"San Francisco is weaponizing parking rules to displace RV communities. Here\u2019s how it started"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<header class=\"rv-hero-header\">\n  <div class=\"rv-tecoLogo\">\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/\">\n              <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"144\" width=\"600\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/tecolote_white_logo-1.png?resize=600%2C144&#038;quality=80&#038;ssl=1\" \/>\n          <\/a>\n        <\/div>\n\n        <figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video autoplay muted loop id=\"rv-heroVideoSelect\" class=\"rv-hero-video\" src=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/INTROL_BROLL.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure>\n\n        <div class=\"rv-header-text\">\n     <p class=\"subtext\">San Francisco is moving to ban RVs citywide.<\/p>\n\n    <p class=\"subtext\">This is how the mass eviction of a Latinx RV community became the city\u2019s blueprint for displacement.<\/p>\n\n  <\/div>\n<\/header>\n<section class=\"rv-content-story no-dml\">\n\n\n\n<p>Veronica Ca\u00f1as sat inside a white RV with faded blue stripes on a warm summer day, cradling her baby boy as their laughter spilled through the open door. Outside, her husband washed the windows of their RV, keeping an eye on their six-year-old daughter zooming past in a plastic toy car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For years, along a quiet stretch of Winston Drive near Lake Merced, a tight-knit RV community of Latinx families carved out fragile stability in the shadow of San Francisco\u2019s housing crisis. Restaurant workers, construction laborers and Uber drivers parked their homes here, juggling long, unpredictable shifts while their children attended nearby schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without city support, families built their own safety net: coordinating childcare, making dinners together, sweeping sidewalks and sharing jumper cables. But in July 2024, it all collapsed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<aside class=\"rv-recirculate\">\n  <div class=\"rv-titleCollection\">\n    <h4>San Francisco&#8217;s failed RV crackdown<\/h4>\n\n  <p class=\"has-small-font-size\">\nIn California, one in three unsheltered residents lives in a vehicle. As housing costs soar and wages stagnate, RVs have become the last line of shelter for low-income workers, immigrant families and disabled residents across the state.\n  <\/p>\n<br\/>\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>El Tecolote\u2019s<\/em> years-long investigation reveals how San Francisco used parking laws and construction projects to evict its largest RV community. What began on one street became a citywide blueprint \u2014 targeting poor families through bureaucratic means while offering few real alternatives.<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"rv-linksCollection\">\n    <a class=\"rv-storyLink\" href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/sf-rv-crackdown-six-takeaways\/\">\n      <div class=\"rv-imgContainer\">\n        <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/takeaways.jpg?quality=89&#038;ssl=1\"\/>\n      <\/div>\n      <h5>Six takeaways from El Tecolote\u2019s investigation into San Francisco\u2019s RV crackdown<\/h5>\n    <\/a>\n\n    <a class=\"rv-storyLink\" href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/sf-rv-crackdown-fallout\/\" target=\"_blank\">\n      <div class=\"rv-imgContainer\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Feature-Image-El-Tecolote-2.jpg\"\/>\n      <\/div>\n      <h5> PT. 2 | These two S.F. neighborhoods reveal aftermath of RV crackdown \u2014 and it\u2019s about to get worse<\/h5>\n    <\/a>\n\n    <a class=\"rv-storyLink\" href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/sf-rv-crackdown-permit-failures\/\" target=\"_blank\">\n      <div class=\"rv-imgContainer\">\n        <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"100%\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/PART_THREE-2.png\"\/>\n      <\/div>\n      <h5> PT. 3 | \u2018How far are we willing to go?\u2019 Inside San Francisco\u2019s RV towing blitz and its biggest failures<\/h5>\n    <\/a>\n\n    <a class=\"rv-storyLink\" href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/whatsapp-rv-sf\/\" target=\"_blank\">\n      <div class=\"rv-imgContainer\">\n        <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\"  src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/4-scaled.jpg?quality=89&#038;ssl=1\"\/>\n      <\/div>\n      <h5>RV Community: Join <em>El Tecolote<\/em> on WhatsApp to answer your questions<\/h5>\n    <\/a>\n\n  <\/div>\n<\/aside>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite public promises to delay enforcement until safe alternatives were in place, Supervisor Myrna Melgar and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) launched a crackdown that began on Winston Drive and spread to nearby streets. More than <a href=\"https:\/\/hsh.archive.sf.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/LakeMerced-PPT.pdf\">a hundred RVs used as shelter<\/a> were pushed out and scattered across the city \u2014 accelerating a <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/sf-rv-oversized-vehicle-ban\/\">citywide RV ban<\/a> so controversial it was eventually repealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What happened on Winston Drive wasn\u2019t just an eviction. It became the city\u2019s playbook for dealing with the growing number of people living in their vehicles across San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a statement to<em> El Tecolote<\/em>, SFMTA said: \u201cWe\u2019ll continue working with the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, SFPD, and the Mayor\u2019s Office to make sure that anyone living on our streets or in recreational vehicles (RVs) has information about the many city services and resources available to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But internal emails reveal that city officials weaponized parking codes, using them to evict RV residents from one street to another. As officials sidestepped accountability, the burden of displacement fell on working-class families who were shuffled into some of the city\u2019s most under-resourced neighborhoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For months, <em>El Tecolote<\/em> documented the targeted displacement of a vulnerable community facing vehicular homelessness. Now, an investigation based on thousands of pages of internal emails, memos and city reports reveals exactly how the crackdown unfolded, why it backfired and the devastating toll it took on families and children. The records show:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Weaponized bureaucracy:<\/strong> City officials used parking laws and construction projects to displace RV residents, even as internal emails flagged legal, logistical and ethical concerns. On Winston Drive, officials enacted a four-hour parking limit to pressure RV residents out, even as they admitted it wouldn\u2019t hold up in practice.&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Misuse of laws: <\/strong>Political pressure and neighbor complaints seemed to drive the agenda. Officials appeared to stretch enforcement laws beyond their intended purpose. In one case, a 72-hour parking rule designed for abandoned vehicles was instead used to displace people living in RVs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Systemic failure:<\/strong> Displaced residents were forced into areas they considered less safe, where they endured relentless ticketing and cycles of eviction. Many families relocated a few blocks away to Vidal Drive or the Bayview \u2014 an already strained and historically underserved neighborhood, further destabilizing families living in RVs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Residents said the deepest betrayal came from Melgar \u2014 San Francisco\u2019s only Latina supervisor at the time \u2014 who had personally visited the Winston Drive community over the years, promising families they would not be forced out without a safe alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe trusted [Melgar] a lot,\u201d said Angela Arostegui, who lived in an RV on Winston with her husband and two daughters. \u201cShe gave us false hope. She played with us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/El-Tecolote-Mail-Request-for-Comment_-Investigative-Report-on-RV-Enforcement-Policies.pdf\">written response<\/a> to <em>El Tecolote<\/em>, Melgar rejected claims that her office misled RV residents and said her goal had always been to restore the public right of way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI do not think allowing people to live on the street in a vehicle in unregulated encampments without basic services is a progressive policy,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIt is our collective failure to address our housing crisis, and to shirk our responsibility to newcomers in a City that functions on immigrant labor. I also believe that the public right of way should be public, and safe, and the residents of the vehicles on Winston Drive were not in a safe or healthy situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><strong>Support <em>El Tecolote\u2019s<\/em> watchdog journalism.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">We\u2019re a small, dedicated team committed to informing, uplifting and defending working-class and immigrant communities. Your contribution goes directly toward reporter wages and the costs of producing investigative stories like this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<script data-primary-color=\"#BF1F2C\" data-text-color=\"#ffffff\" data-btn-txt=\"Donate Today\" data-form=\"tkmUpg\" data-form-type=\"donation\" src=\"https:\/\/fundraise.givesmart.com\/forms\/form_btn_modal.js\"><\/script>\n<style>button.mc-donate-button {height: inherit !important;}<\/style>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<nav class=\"rv-nav-chap\">\n  <div class=\"rv-nav-hed-wrap\" id=\"nav-chapter-1\">\n    <a  href=\"#first-head\"  data-text=\"I. A fragile Latinx RV community gets targeted\">\n        I. A fragile Latinx RV community gets targeted\n    <\/a>\n    <div class=\"rv-progress-bar\" id=\"progress-bar-1\"><\/div>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"rv-nav-hed-wrap\" id=\"nav-chapter-2\">\n    <a  href=\"#chapter-2\" data-text=\"II. The city knew the risks \u2014 and did it anyway\">\n        II. The city knew the risks \u2014 and did it anyway\n    <\/a>\n    <div class=\"rv-progress-bar\" id=\"progress-bar-2\"><\/div>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"rv-nav-hed-wrap\" id=\"nav-chapter-3\">\n    <a  href=\"#chapter-3\" data-text=\"III. Another eviction hits, faster and harsher\">\n        III. Another eviction hits, faster and harsher\n    <\/a>\n    <div class=\"rv-progress-bar\" id=\"progress-bar-3\"><\/div>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"rv-nav-hed-wrap\" id=\"nav-chapter-4\">\n    <a  href=\"#chapter-4\"  data-text=\"IV. Displacement spreads \u2014 and becomes city policy\">\n        IV. Displacement spreads \u2014 and becomes city policy\n    <\/a>\n    <div  class=\"rv-progress-bar\" id=\"progress-bar-4\"><\/div>\n  <\/div>\n<\/nav>\n<section id=\"chapter-1\">\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\" id=\"first-head\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-22.jpg?resize=600%2C399&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-65939\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-22.jpg?resize=600%2C399&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-22.jpg?resize=360%2C239&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-22.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-22.jpg?resize=400%2C266&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-22.jpg?w=1000&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Veronica Ca\u00f1as affectionately holds her one-year-old son next to their RV in San Francisco, on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><strong>A fragile Latinx RV community gets targeted<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-small-font-size\"><em>Winston Drive was home to dozens of Latinx families living in RVs \u2014 working-class residents who created their own support system when the city failed to offer help. Even as they followed the rules, pressure from neighbors and city officials began mounting.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Winston Drive, a long, wide stretch in San Francisco\u2019s quiet Lake Merced neighborhood, became home during the pandemic to nearly 50 RVs parked along empty lots and student housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was one of several streets where informal RV communities had formed across the city. According to San Francisco\u2019s most recent Point-In-Time (PIT) count, the number of people living in vehicles rose by 37% since 2022 \u2014 to nearly 1,500 \u2014 even as the number of people camping in tents or on sidewalks declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These vehicle homes sheltered dozens of working-class Latinx families, who could no longer afford the city\u2019s soaring rents. Living in RVs was the only way many could keep their jobs in food service, janitorial work and construction while their children stayed enrolled in nearby schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To city officials, it looked like homelessness. But residents didn\u2019t see it that way. Living in RVs was a survival strategy \u2014 a way to stay housed, employed and near their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-1.png?quality=80&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66577\" style=\"width:607px;height:auto\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Winston Drive, a wide stretch in San Francisco\u2019s Lake Merced neighborhood, runs between student housing and undeveloped lots near San Francisco State University. Graphic: Mariana Duran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cEveryone here works,\u201d said Arlen Arostegui. As a truck driver, he once earned up to $4,500 a week, enough to buy an RV for weekend camping trips with his wife, Angela, and their two daughters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before Winston, the Nicaraguan family shared a three-bedroom apartment with six relatives. When COVID hit, their income vanished. Forced to leave, they spread across four RVs \u2014 some borrowed, others newly bought. Parked near one another, they rebuilt a routine: sharing meals, hauling water and raising children together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Veronica, Winston Drive became a fragile refuge after years of upheaval. She and her husband, Carlos, fled El Salvador after gang members threatened to kill their daughter over an unpaid $1,000 extortion. \u201cThey said, \u2018We\u2019ll start with the root \u2014 the mother and father,\u2019\u201d Veronica told <em>El Tecolote<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On their journey, they escaped a kidnapping attempt in Mexico, and eventually arrived in San Francisco and became pregnant. It was a high-risk pregnancy, and she had to stop working. \u201cI kept going until I couldn\u2019t anymore,\u201d Veronica said. Then she was laid off from her restaurant job. With only one income, their $3,600 rent became impossible to manage. \u201cWe looked for cheaper housing, but nothing was available. They told us we didn\u2019t qualify for help because we didn\u2019t have stable jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A friend loaned them an RV. After a few months, they bought their own and parked on Winston Drive. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy, but we had privacy. Stability. Our kids could sleep.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"rv-hero-chapter-triptych\">\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-5-medium.jpg?ssl=1\">\n\n <figcaption><em>Arlen Arosteguis, a four-year RV resident on Winston Drive, stands next to his RV after moving it for street sweep that happens on Tuesday mornings every week, in San Francisco, Calif., on June 18, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0722024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-1-scaled.jpg?ssl=1\">\n <figcaption><em>Veronica Ca\u00f1as holds her 1-year-old child while watching her partner, Carlos Lopez, cover the windows to their RV on Winston Drive in San Francisco, Calif., on July 2, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Later, Veronica\u2019s family, headed by her mother, Eusebia Rosales, moved from Los Angeles to San Francisco and parked another RV beside them. Eusebia lived with her husband, teenage son, daughter Alba, and Alba\u2019s two young children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Winston wasn\u2019t perfect. But it offered something rare: stability. As long as residents followed the rules \u2014 moving for weekly street cleaning and keeping vehicle registrations current \u2014 they had an informal but consistent place to live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But to leaders at San Francisco State University and affluent homeowners nearby, the community was an eyesore. Complaints about RVs, trash and safety concerns flooded Melgar\u2019s inbox, prompting her to act.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey have roped and carved out portions of the street for their own exclusive use,\u201d wrote one District 7 resident in an <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/FW_-Supervisor-Melgar_Redacted.pdf\">email<\/a> to Melgar\u2019s office in May 2023. \u201cThis can only happen when we have feckless city officials. Solution: Resign immediately and let\u2019s get someone who does something.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jason Porth, a top SFSU official overseeing campus development, also raised concerns. \u201cI regret that the situation along Winston has continued to deteriorate,\u201d he wrote in a July 26, 2023, <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/07-26-23_Jason_SFSU.jpg\">email<\/a> to the Department of Homelessness (HSH) and Public Works (SFPW), citing litter and safety concerns. \u201cWe have found syringes with needles, broken beer bottles, a chair.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"chapter-2\">\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"397\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-15-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C397&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61311\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-15-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C397&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-15-medium.jpg?resize=360%2C238&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-15-medium.jpg?resize=768%2C508&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-15-medium.jpg?resize=1536%2C1015&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-15-medium.jpg?resize=1200%2C793&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-15-medium.jpg?resize=1568%2C1036&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-15-medium.jpg?resize=400%2C264&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-15-medium.jpg?w=2000&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Dozens of RVs are parked along Winston Drive near Lake Merced in San Francisco, Calif., on April 17, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><strong><strong>The city knew the risks \u2014 and did it anyway<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em><em>Despite repeated warnings from SFMTA staff about legal, logistical and ethical risks, Supervisor Myrna Melgar worked with the agency to push through new parking restrictions without securing a safe alternative for the families who would be displaced. (Click on the links to see how the bureaucracy unfolded).<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Inside San Francisco City Hall, talks about disbanding the RV community began in <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Re_-MTA-Director_Supervisor-Melgar-Meeting-9_22-2-PM-Redacted.pdf\">September 2022<\/a>. Melgar, responding to neighbor complaints and pressure to increase street parking, pushed for parking restrictions on Winston Drive, as well as Lake Merced Boulevard and Portola Drive. Over the following months, she worked closely with SFMTA staff to craft an enforcement plan for the summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis proposal may engender objections from homeless advocates,\u201d wrote SFMTA curb policy manager Hank Wilson in a March 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/03-01-23-sfmta-advocate-objections.pdf\">email<\/a> to Melgar\u2019s office. He added that Melgar had \u201cmentioned that implementation could be held until a satisfactory safe parking site is identified.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Melgar\u2019s aide, Emma Heiken, <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/03-09-23-emma-heiken-parking-sign.png\">followed up<\/a> to ask whether SFMTA could post the signs but delay enforcement \u201conly once we have secured a safe parking site for the RVs.\u201d Wilson <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/03-13-23-hank-wilson-parking-sign.png\">replied<\/a> that while possible, \u201cI don\u2019t believe we\u2019d want to put the signs up with the express intent of not enforcing them.\u201d<br>By April 2023, SFMTA circulated a draft of the policy internally. \u201cThis proposal will generate a lot of controversy,\u201d Wilson warned colleagues in an <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/04-19-23_SFMTA-internal-doubts-scaled.jpg\">email<\/a>. \u201cAnd just saying \u2018the Supervisor asked for this\u2019 might not be convincing enough.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"rv-hero-chapter-triptych\">\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04242024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-11-copy-scaled.jpg?ssl=1\">\n\n <figcaption><em>A jogger is seen from inside an RV parked along Lake Merced Boulevard near San Francisco State University, in San Francisco, Calif., on April 24, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/FEB-MARCH-UNHOUSEDSTREETPARKING-ET-PU-13.jpg?ssl=1\">\n <figcaption><em>SFMTA officials install overnight parking restriction signs in Bernal Hill, San Francisco, Calif., on Feb. 28, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Ahead of public rollout, Wilson asked Melgar\u2019s office for a meeting. \u201cThe proposed 4-hour time limits would impact the large number of vehicles (120 or so) that are parked along those blocks with people living in them,\u201d he wrote in an April 20 <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/04-20-23_4-hour-policy-internal-reviews.jpg\">email<\/a>. \u201cIf passed, it likely will push those folks living in vehicles to other blocks in the City.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the warnings, staff moved forward, scheduling a public hearing in June, with a final SFMTA vote set for July 18.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senior Analyst Andy Thornley, who oversees street parking and curbside regulations, was tasked with coordinating <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-05-23-at-3.09.28%E2%80%AFPM.png\">RV removal<\/a> from city streets. That same day, April 20, Thornley <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/05-05-23_Andy-looks-for-options.jpg\">emailed<\/a> Melgar\u2019s office with stricter proposals, including<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/bayarea\/article\/SF-bans-RV-parking-overnight-in-the-Portola-13592584.php\"> overnight parking <\/a>bans, but also floated more supportive approaches: a \u2018refuge permit\u2019 system and other \u201cequitable responses\u201d for RV residents. But, in a separate <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/04-13-23_SFMTA-Internal-concerns.jpg\">email<\/a>, he acknowledged the permit program would be \u201ctoo big and too politically fraught\u201d to implement anytime soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By May 23, Thornley <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/05-23-23_Melgar-understands-risks.jpg\">emailed<\/a> homelessness department director Emily Cohen, writing that Supervisor Melgar \u201cunderstands fully\u201d the risks of displacing families. \u201cWe still need a reasonable feasible answer to the question, \u2018Where will all these people go if they can\u2019t park here?\u2019\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By late June, SFMTA staff recommended holding off on posting the 4-hour signs until most RV residents left voluntarily \u2014 a &#8220;fuzzy goal,&#8221; Thornley <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/06-21-23_Internal-doubts-on-enforcement.jpg\">wrote<\/a> to colleagues. Efforts to establish a second, west-side vehicle triage center had failed. &#8220;We all need to be thinking hard about what can be promised,&#8221; he wrote, &#8220;and how it will be actuated.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C400&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61232\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C400&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?w=2000&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A young child plays inside an RV parked on Winston Drive in San Francisco, Calif., on June 18, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201cMessy\u201d and \u201cimpossible\u201d: Staff admit limits of parking enforcement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A new legal hurdle emerged in July 2023. California\u2019s First District Court of Appeal <a href=\"https:\/\/law.justia.com\/cases\/california\/court-of-appeal\/2023\/a164180.html\">ruled<\/a> that San Francisco\u2019s practice of towing legally parked vehicles over unpaid tickets was unconstitutional under the Fourth Amendment. The lawsuit, filed by the Coalition on Homelessness, argued that warrantless tows amounted to unreasonable seizures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the ruling, San Francisco could no longer tow vehicles without a warrant \u2014 even if they had multiple unpaid citations. Towing would only be allowed if a vehicle was: (1) blocking traffic, (2) unregistered for more than six months, (3) abandoned or (4) part of criminal evidence or arrest scenarios. If the vehicle was inhabited, police presence was required to remove people \u2014 but even that wouldn\u2019t override the warrant requirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For RV residents, it was a rare protection. Even with new parking signs, the city couldn\u2019t legally tow inhabited RVs without a warrant. So officials <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Shelter-vehicle-encampment-on-SFSU-vicinity-streets-1.docx-Google-Docs.pdf\">searched for workarounds<\/a>.A month later, Jo\u00e9l T. Ramos \u2014 a liaison between SFMTA and the Board of Supervisors \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/RE_-Sup-Melgar_-Reso-Coming-for-SRTS-Infrastructure-24-4347.pdf\">emailed<\/a> colleagues after receiving a call from Melgar. She had just driven past Winston Drive with her children and neighbors on the way to Lowell High School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"rv-hero-chapter-triptych\">\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/0722024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-9-copy-scaled.jpg?ssl=1\">\n\n <figcaption><em>Carlos L\u00f3pez puts on his shoes beside his family\u2019s RV on Winston Drive in San Francisco, Calif., on July 2, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n<div>\n <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-16-medium-600x397.jpg?auto=compress&#038;cs=tinysrgb&#038;w=1260&#038;h=750&#038;dpr=2\">\n <figcaption><em>RVs line Winston Drive near San Francisco State University in San Francisco, Calif., on April 17, 2024. The city delayed enforcement of new parking restrictions until June 2, offering residents brief relief \u2014 and continued uncertainty. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe situation on Winston is a powder keg waiting to happen,\u201d Ramos <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/RE_-Sup-Melgar_-Reso-Coming-for-SRTS-Infrastructure-24-4347.pdf\">wrote<\/a> to SFMTA staff, quoting Melgar. \u201cWith generators and smoking regularly happening, she is deeply concerned.\u201d Melgar asked the SFMTA to investigate three issues: RVs allegedly being rented out, vacant vehicles stored on the street and the condition of the bike lane.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s please make sure to advance the Winston changes,\u201d SFMTA Director Jeffrey Tumlin responded in an <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/08-23-23-jeffrey0tumlin-winston-changes.png\">email<\/a>, instructing staff to move the four-hour parking rule forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But behind the scenes, concerns persisted. On September 1, SFMTA Streets Division Director Tom Maguire <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/09-01-23-Add-Tow-Away-4-hour-limits.jpg\">asked<\/a> Thornley if the agency could add \u201cTOW AWAY\u201d language to the proposal. City traffic engineer Ricardo Olea <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/09-01-23_4hour-not-towable.jpg\">wrote<\/a> back: \u201cI don\u2019t know about illegal, but it is improper to legislate and put a tow sign for something we know we cannot tow for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On September 6, Wilson <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/09-06-23-wilson-enforcement-challenges.png\">emailed<\/a> colleagues, acknowledging these enforcement challenges: &#8220;Actually enforcing the 4-hour limits and removing vehicles who violate them will be a messy, and in some cases, impossible process.&#8221;<br>Still, on September 19, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfmta.com\/media\/36867\/download?inline\">SFMTA Board approved<\/a> the new 4-hour parking restriction for Winston Drive, with a condition to delay posting signs for three months to find a safe parking site.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"397\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04252024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-1-copy.jpg?resize=600%2C397&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66099\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04252024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-1-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C397&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04252024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-1-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=360%2C238&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04252024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-1-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C508&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04252024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-1-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1016&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04252024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-1-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1354&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04252024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-1-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C793&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04252024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-1-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C677&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04252024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-1-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C1037&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04252024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-1-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1322&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/04252024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-1-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C264&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><br>Angie Rodr\u00edguez, who lived in her RV on Winston Drive near San Francisco State University for seven years, watches as it is towed for repairs in San Francisco, Calif., on April 25, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong><strong>Bureaucratic hurdles behind new parking rules<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SFMTA staff were torn and confused about when to post the new parking signs and how to enforce them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On October 26, 2023, Thornley<a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/10-26-23_Andy-internal-warnings.jpg\"> flagged<\/a> a wave of looming concerns: construction-related towing, RV displacement spreading to nearby streets, along with potential protests and media scrutiny. Even with the new rules, he warned, many RVs \u201cwon\u2019t, or can\u2019t\u201d move without legal intervention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the same email, Thornley raised a critical question: Would the supervisor want to delay the posting of the new parking signs for a few months now, or until after Winston Drive\u2019s scheduled repaving project? Staff deferred to Melgar on when to post the signs and when enforcement should begin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Weeks later, he <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/11-14-23_Christmas-eviction.jpg\">added<\/a> that enforcing the new rules just before Christmas would feel \u201ckind of tone-deaf.\u201d Thornley continued to work on a <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/RV-parking-restriction-framework.docx-Google-Docs.pdf\">refuge permit,<\/a> but the program never materialized.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With no clear timeline, RV residents protested on October 24, what they saw as imminent eviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t want them to impose the 4-hour limit,\u201d said Arlen Arostegui. \u201cWe just want a safe parking area or anything they can offer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video autoplay loop muted src=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/rv-mmoves.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">RV residents follow behind a mechanical street sweeper on Winston Drive during the weekly cleaning, moving their vehicles to comply with city regulations and avoid citations, in San Francisco, Calif., on June 25, 2024. Video: Erika Carlos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The looming enforcement threatened to upend their daily life. Already juggling jobs and parenting, the family was also navigating a mounting stack of parking tickets, late fees and the existing parking rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cMornings are crazy,\u201d Arostegui said of the weekly Tuesday street cleaning. \u201cWe\u2019re usually moving by 7:45 a.m. or 7:50 a.m., then it\u2019s parking the RV again, tidying things up inside, getting the kids ready, and rushing them to school. They always arrive late.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the December 19 enforcement deadline approached, the signs still weren\u2019t ready. Parking Director Ted Graff <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/11-30-23_Egg-on-face-need-more-time.jpg\">emailed<\/a> his staff that they\u2019d likely miss the December 19 deadline and should say so publicly. \u201cI understand the Sup does not want to publicly announce this as it&#8217;s a stick for HSH but seems like we will get egg on our face,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For residents like the Arosteguis, the delay brought a brief reprieve.<br>\u201cWe have our little children,\u201d Arostegui said in a December 18 <a href=\"https:\/\/peninsulapress.com\/2023\/12\/18\/as-restrictions-loom-rv-residents-fear-theyll-lose-more-than-their-parking-spot\/\">interview<\/a> with the Peninsula Press. \u201cIt\u2019s almost Christmas, and we just want to stay together. But we don\u2019t know where we\u2019ll go next.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06252024-STREETSWEEPRV-ET-PU-14-1.jpg?resize=600%2C400&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06252024-STREETSWEEPRV-ET-PU-14-1-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C400&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06252024-STREETSWEEPRV-ET-PU-14-1-scaled.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06252024-STREETSWEEPRV-ET-PU-14-1-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06252024-STREETSWEEPRV-ET-PU-14-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06252024-STREETSWEEPRV-ET-PU-14-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1365&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06252024-STREETSWEEPRV-ET-PU-14-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06252024-STREETSWEEPRV-ET-PU-14-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06252024-STREETSWEEPRV-ET-PU-14-1-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06252024-STREETSWEEPRV-ET-PU-14-1-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1333&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06252024-STREETSWEEPRV-ET-PU-14-1-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Arlens Arosteguis, a four-year RV resident on Winston Drive, backs up his neighbors RV after a weekly street sweep in San Francisco, Calif., on June 18, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Melgar pushes for \u2018creative\u2019 tactics for dealing with RVs<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By February 2024, the parking signs were ready, but SFMTA staff still needed final sign-off from Supervisor Melgar and SFMTA Board Chair Amanda Eaken, an <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/02-01-24_Secure-go-ahead.jpg\">email<\/a> from Thornley noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis suspense is bad for everyone,\u201d Thornley wrote in a March 4 <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/03-04-23_Suspense-bad-for-everyone.pdf\">email<\/a> to a volunteer from the Coalition on Homelessness, noting that residents, outreach workers and even SFMTA staff were stuck in limbo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the meantime, as some longtime residents left Winston Drive \u2014 either with city support or on their own \u2014 new RVs quickly replaced them.<br>In an April 3 <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/04-03-24-melgar-complain-ramos-1.png\">email<\/a>, Ramos wrote to Director Tumlin and colleagues that Melgar \u201chas been complaining about this issue for a while now\u201d and wanted temporary \u201cNo Parking\u201d signs or barricades to prevent new RVs from moving in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"rv-hero-chapter-triptych\">\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_389e5bb9-7f54-4bbf-87d9-949544aa5ac9_1_1719007961_389e5bb9-full.jpg?ssl=1\">\n\n <figcaption><em>Jamilet Calder\u00f3n, 43, sits inside her RV on Winston Drive in San Francisco, Calif., on April 17, 2024.\nPhoto: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-4-1.jpg?ssl=1\">\n <figcaption><em>Jamilet Calder\u00f3n, 43, holds 12 parking citations she received while living in her RV on Winston Drive in San Francisco, Calif., on April 17, 2024. She says the mounting tickets have left her feeling targeted and financially overwhelmed. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ll remind this group of how the Supervisor would really appreciate any creative thinking instead of just an outright \u2018No. Not possible\u2019 answer,\u201d wrote Ramos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/04-04-24-improper-signs-attorney.png\">email<\/a>, a city attorney said placing signs at recently vacated spots and not the entire street would be \u201cseen as improper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ultimately, Ramos <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/RE_-Sup.-Melgar_-Prevent-new-RVs-from-coming-to-Winston-and-Buckingham-4.16.24.pdf\">wrote<\/a> that Melgar agreed to \u201cjust putting the permanent [4-hour] signs up in-lieu of all this,\u201d and scheduled enforcement for May 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By mid-April, <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Winston_Buckingham-warning-flyer.pdf\">flyers posted on Winston Drive<\/a> announced \u201cenforcement will begin soon,\u201d surprising RV residents who said Melgar personally promised them in group meetings that they wouldn\u2019t face displacement unless alternatives were secured.<br>Amid public outcry, Ramos <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/04-15-24_HSH-response-1.jpg\">wrote<\/a> to SFMTA staff on April 15 that Melgar was \u201cgetting the kind of response she needs from [the Department of Homelessness], who are imploring for more time to do more outreach to the RV&#8217;s on Winston.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"397\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-25-copy.jpg?resize=600%2C397&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66135\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-25-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C397&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-25-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=360%2C238&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-25-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C508&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-25-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1016&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-25-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1354&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-25-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C793&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-25-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C677&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-25-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C1037&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-25-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1322&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/04172024-RVBUCKINGHAMWAY-ET-PU-25-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C264&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A notice of a new four-hour parking limit is posted by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency near rows of RVs on Winston Drive in San Francisco, Calif., on April 17, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Ramos <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Re_-D7_-Postpone-Enforcement-until-July-1st-_-Start-of-Re-Paving-4.16.24.pdf\">emailed<\/a> staff to postpone enforcement until \u201cat least until July\u201d to give HSH more time for outreach, and \u201cbecause that is when re-paving work will begin.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 4-hour parking signs went up the week of April 22, with enforcement now tied to the repavement project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In public communications, Melgar and city officials appeared to use the construction project as a justification for clearing Winston Drive. The strategy worked: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/sf\/article\/homeless-rv-westside-displace-18267069.php\">media reports<\/a> framed displacement as inevitable, sparking confusion among city department heads, RV residents and their advocates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/El-Tecolote-Mail-Request-for-Comment_-Investigative-Report-on-RV-Enforcement-Policies.pdf\">asked<\/a> why she continued pushing for enforcement despite the absence of alternative housing, Melgar cited safety concerns, neighbor complaints and infrastructure plans:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe lack of safety for the community from an unregulated residential community in the public right of way, and the escalating hostility from the neighbors, who are my constituents,\u201d she wrote. \u201cAdditionally the road is scheduled to be repaved, along with getting multiple pedestrian and bicycle improvements.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-1-copy.jpg?resize=600%2C400&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66176\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-1-copy.jpg?resize=600%2C400&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-1-copy.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-1-copy.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-1-copy.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-1-copy.jpg?resize=2048%2C1366&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-1-copy.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-1-copy.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-1-copy.jpg?resize=1568%2C1046&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-1-copy.jpg?resize=2000%2C1334&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-1-copy.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Organizers and RV residents briefly blocked traffic on Winston Drive in San Francisco, Calif., on June 11, 2024, urging the city to provide a safe parking site ahead of a looming enforcement deadline. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RV residents protest looming eviction as confusion over enforcement grows<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Two months ahead of the scheduled July eviction, Thornley sought clarity on the repavement timeline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re still hoping to avoid a \u2018leaf blower\u2019 finale to the 50+ RV encampment,\u201d he wrote in a May 24, 2024 <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Screenshot-2025-05-23-at-3.22.54%E2%80%AFPM.png\">email<\/a> to a colleague. \u201c'(cause we&#8217;re a smart rich city and don&#8217;t just compound our own problems carelessly), the difference between July 1 and July 31 could be critical.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As city staff scrambled behind the scenes, RV residents braced for the worst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On June 10, more than 40 RV residents and advocates gathered to protest what they saw as Supervisor Melgar\u2019s broken promise: that no one would be displaced from Winston Drive without a safe alternative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"rv-hero-chapter-triptych\">\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_d78a343d-8c4f-4930-bc25-511ff88a807c_1_1718129911_d78a343d-full.jpg?ssl=1\">\n\n <figcaption><em>Ver\u00f3nica Ca\u00f1as holds her infant while protesting San Francisco\u2019s new 4-hour parking rule on Winston Drive on June 10, 2024. She and dozens of other RV residents feared displacement as the city moved forward with enforcement despite lacking a safe alternative. Photo: Yesica Prado<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/RV_41-scaled.jpg?ssl=1\">\n <figcaption><em>Arlen Arostegui and his two daughters protest San Francisco\u2019s new 4-hour parking limit during a June 10, 2024 demonstration organized by the Coalition on Homelessness. The family, facing eviction from Winston Drive, called on the city to keep its promise not to displace them without a safe place to go. Photo: Yesica Prado<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe [are] so stressed out now,\u201d said 11-year-old Hazel, one of Arostegui\u2019s daughters during the demonstration. \u201cWe don\u2019t know where to go.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Organized by the Coalition on Homelessness, protesters blocked traffic on Winston Drive using a car and orange cones, rallying against what they believed was an imminent eviction.\u201cThat \u2018July 2\u2019 eviction date is based on a guess by [the Coalition on Homelessness],\u201d wrote Thornley in an <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/06-10-24_project-guess.jpg\">email<\/a> that morning. \u201cI doubt they have better intel on the contractor\u2019s plans than we do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-5-copy.jpg?resize=600%2C400&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66177\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-5-copy.jpg?resize=600%2C400&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-5-copy.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-5-copy.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-5-copy.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-5-copy.jpg?resize=2048%2C1366&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-5-copy.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-5-copy.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-5-copy.jpg?resize=1568%2C1046&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-5-copy.jpg?resize=2000%2C1334&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/06112024-RVWINSTONPRESSER-ET-PU-5-copy.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><br>Organizers and RV residents blocked traffic momentarily appealing to the city to find a safe parking site for their RVs before a parking enforcement deadline on Winston Drive in San Francisco, Calif., on June 11, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Later that day, Melgar issued <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/6.11.24-Statement-on-Winston-RVs.docx.pdf\">a statement<\/a> saying enforcement would begin only after repaving was complete, tentatively set for July. \u201cAs one Supervisor in District 7, I lack the authority to control the work plans of the City\u2019s Departments,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But for residents, the uncertainty was destabilizing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThere was someone who promised us a safe space, and we haven\u2019t been given an answer,\u201d said Margot Sevilla, a construction worker who lived in an RV with her extended family. \u201cIt really is distressing news.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\" width=\"600\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gDQcCFzFZgc?si=9ZY-DuOKQsMMkIN2\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>By this point, <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/6.11.24-Statement-on-Winston-RVs.docx.pdf\">Melgar said<\/a> that HSH placed 38 families into city-supported housing programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But for many RV residents, the offers weren\u2019t realistic. Some said they were told they didn\u2019t qualify for rent assistance. Others said they were offered temporary shelter beds \u2014 a steep downgrade from the autonomy, privacy and security their RVs provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u201cNone of this is for publication\u201d: Miscommunication spreads confusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As tensions mounted, Thornley asked Public Works spokesperson Benjamin Peterson for an update on the repaving schedule. Winston Drive, it turned out, was just one of 38 streets included in a citywide repaving contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201c[The contractor] probably doesn\u2019t care about the order and would be fine with dealing with Winston later,\u201d Thornley wrote in a June 11 <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/RE_-Media-inquiry-Winston-Drive-RV-Dwellers_Redacted.pdf\">email<\/a> to SFMTA staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added, \u201cNone of this is for publication,\u201d noting he planned to speak with Public Works about delaying the repaving to give RV residents more time. \u201cExtra time hasn\u2019t brought better answers so far,\u201d he wrote, \u201cbut it\u2019s preferable to our current path.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then on June 14, SFMTA staff were blindsided when the city\u2019s Healthy Streets Operations Center (HSOC) \u2014 the task force responsible for clearing encampments \u2014 posted notices on Winston Drive announcing an \u201cencampment resolution\u201d scheduled for June 18, nearly two weeks before the rumored eviction date.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-4-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C400&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61235\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-4-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C400&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-4-medium.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-4-medium.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-4-medium.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-4-medium.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-4-medium.jpg?resize=1568%2C1045&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-4-medium.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/06182024-RVWINSTONRESIDENTS-ET-PU-4-medium.jpg?w=2000&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">City workers placed notices of a street sweep along Winston Drive in San Francisco, Calif., on June 18, 2024. The city could soon start enforcing a four-hour parking restriction on the street, leaving many RV residents unsure of where they can park next. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>\u201cApparently HSOC posted notices on Friday. I only found out a couple hours ago,\u201d Thornley <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/06-17-24_HSOC-notices.jpg\">wrote<\/a> to the Public Works spokesperson, calling the situation \u201cpretty confusing and confused.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Residents were confused, too. Many feared the city was retaliating for their protest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIf we went on strike it was so that we would be heard,\u201d said Gio, an RV resident who declined to share his last name. \u201cAt no time did we want to damage private property or anything like that. We are respectful of the law&#8230; Just because we live in an RV, people have this bad concept.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On June 18, Peterson <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/06-18-24-sfpw-repavement-work-flexibility.png\">confirmed<\/a> to Thornley that repaving likely wouldn\u2019t start until September or October. \u201cWe are willing to work with our contractor to provide as much time as is needed,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thornley <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/06-18-24_accidental-change.JPG.pdf\">responded<\/a> that the four-hour parking rule had become \u201ca coincidental change that could move at the same time [as repaving], but it\u2019s \u201cmore haphazard and stumbled-into than helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That same day, SFMTA\u2019s Hank Wilson <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/06-18-24-wilson-keep-repavemt-project-timeline.png\">emailed<\/a> colleagues that the city \u201cshouldn\u2019t push back the repaving project any further,\u201d suggesting it would help motivate the homeless department to find safe parking sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Peterson, seemingly unaware of the political stakes, <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/06-18-24_Willing-to-change-date.jpg\">confirmed<\/a> to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition that repaving wouldn\u2019t begin until fall \u2014 a message that quickly spread among advocacy groups and eventually reached Melgar\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Expressing frustration, on June 24 Melgar <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/06-24-24_Melgar-responds.jpg\">wrote<\/a> to Public Works and SFMTA staff: \u201cThis is a difficult situation politically and it bums me out that information is being shared with the public that has not been shared with me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-2.png?resize=600%2C349&#038;quality=80&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66614\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-2.png?resize=600%2C349&amp;quality=80&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-2.png?resize=360%2C209&amp;quality=80&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-2.png?resize=768%2C447&amp;quality=80&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-2.png?resize=1536%2C893&amp;quality=80&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-2.png?w=2000&amp;quality=80&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">After approving enforcement on Winston Drive, where about 50 RVs were parked, Supervisor Myrna Melgar pushed to expand restrictions to three nearby streets: Lake Merced Boulevard, Vidal Drive, and Buckingham Way. Combined, enforcement across all four streets could displace more than 120 RV residents. Graphic: Mariana Duran for El Tecolote<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Melgar\u2019s RV crackdown expands beyond Winston Drive<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On July 2, 2024, in a closed-door meeting, Melgar, SFMTA\u2019s Ramos and other city department heads gave the green light for Winston Drive\u2019s four-hour parking restriction to begin August 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cBear in mind that this enforcement will not result in towing,\u201d Ramos <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/07-02-24_threat-citations.jpg\">wrote<\/a> to SFMTA Director Tumlin. \u201cIt is the Supervisor\u2019s hope that the threat and\/or issuance of parking citations alone will result in people moving the RVs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That day, RV residents braced for eviction again. Many had taken the day off work. When officials didn\u2019t show up, they returned to their uncertain limbo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNow, one can sleep a little more peacefully,\u201d said Veronica, who had been told incorrectly by advocates that enforcement would not begin until September. \u201cBut we are always in the same place\u2026 when that period runs out, where are we going to go then?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_e3c4bf36-bfc0-4e28-b802-470f5bad4341_1_1719947769_e3c4bf36-full.jpg?resize=600%2C399&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66188\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_e3c4bf36-bfc0-4e28-b802-470f5bad4341_1_1719947769_e3c4bf36-full.jpg?resize=600%2C399&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_e3c4bf36-bfc0-4e28-b802-470f5bad4341_1_1719947769_e3c4bf36-full.jpg?resize=360%2C239&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_e3c4bf36-bfc0-4e28-b802-470f5bad4341_1_1719947769_e3c4bf36-full.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_e3c4bf36-bfc0-4e28-b802-470f5bad4341_1_1719947769_e3c4bf36-full.jpg?resize=1536%2C1021&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_e3c4bf36-bfc0-4e28-b802-470f5bad4341_1_1719947769_e3c4bf36-full.jpg?resize=1200%2C798&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_e3c4bf36-bfc0-4e28-b802-470f5bad4341_1_1719947769_e3c4bf36-full.jpg?resize=1024%2C681&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_e3c4bf36-bfc0-4e28-b802-470f5bad4341_1_1719947769_e3c4bf36-full.jpg?resize=1568%2C1043&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_e3c4bf36-bfc0-4e28-b802-470f5bad4341_1_1719947769_e3c4bf36-full.jpg?resize=400%2C266&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_e3c4bf36-bfc0-4e28-b802-470f5bad4341_1_1719947769_e3c4bf36-full.jpg?w=2000&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ver\u00f3nica Ca\u00f1as becomes emotional while recounting her experience migrating to the United States while pregnant with her now 1-year-old son, next to her family\u2019s RV on Winston Drive in San Francisco, Calif., on July 2, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>That evening, Ramos <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/07-02-24_continue-LMB-project.jpg\">emailed<\/a> SFMTA staff: Melgar now wanted to advance the long-stalled <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfmta.com\/projects\/lake-merced-quick-build-project\">Lake Merced Blvd Quick Build<\/a> (LMBQB) project \u2014 a bike lane plan that would eliminate parking spaces currently used by RV residents parked along Buckingham Way, Vidal Drive and Lake Merced Boulevard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The project had been on pause pending a safe parking site. But Ramos <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/07-02-24_continue-LMB-project.jpg\">confirmed<\/a> that Melgar now sought to maintain \u201cconsistency across these informal RV parking sites\u201d amid the Winston eviction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The impact would be sweeping: the plan to clear Winston Drive \u2014 along with three nearby streets in the LMBQB project \u2014 would displace more than 120 RV residents. This time, with even fewer options for where to park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"chapter-3\">\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video class=\u201drvcontrolsMobile\u201d autoplay muted loop src=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/TAKEOVER_BROLL.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">In a last-ditch effort to secure safe parking, RV residents from Winston Drive occupied an empty lot near the San Francisco Zoo on the night of July 29, 2024. By 2 a.m., police arrived and redirected them to Zoo Road. Video: Erika Carlos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><strong>Another eviction hits, faster and harshe<\/strong><\/strong>r<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em><em>Just weeks after RV residents were evicted from Winston Drive and nearby streets, they were displaced again \u2014 this time from Zoo Road, a site the city had once considered a safe parking location. Families endured a chaotic cycle of ticketing, towing and desperation.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On July 29, three days before the city\u2019s deadline to clear Winston Drive, RV residents took a major risk: <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/winston-drive-rv-sf-zoo\/\">they took over an empty private lot<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"339\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-3.gif?resize=600%2C339&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66612\" style=\"width:600px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-3.gif?resize=600%2C339&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-3.gif?resize=360%2C203&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-3.gif?resize=200%2C112&amp;ssl=1 200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-3.gif?resize=768%2C434&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-3.gif?resize=1536%2C868&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-3.gif?resize=2048%2C1157&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-3.gif?resize=1200%2C678&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-3.gif?resize=1024%2C578&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-3.gif?resize=1568%2C886&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-3.gif?resize=2000%2C1130&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/Map-3.gif?resize=400%2C226&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">On July 29, 2024, RV residents formed a caravan and drove two miles from Winston Drive to an empty lot near the San Francisco Zoo, shown in yellow. That night, city officials redirected them to Zoo Road. Graphic: Mariana Duran for El Tecolote<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>That night, in a last-ditch effort, RV residents organized a caravan of more than 20 RVs to drive two miles to an empty lot at the San Francisco Zoo at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI have a gigantic uncertainty in my heart because we don\u2019t know what can happen,\u201d said Carlos Felipe, 40, who joined the RV caravan. \u201cWe\u2019re kind of exerting some pressure to see if [the city] can find us a permanent location \u2026 we ask all the authorities to support us, because there are a lot of families here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"rv-hero-chapter-triptych\">\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/07292024-RVWINSTON-ET-PU-10-medium.jpg?ssl=1\">\n\n <figcaption><em>A caravan of about 50 RVs from Winston Drive lines up outside the San Francisco Zoo before entering an empty lot in San Francisco, Calif., on July 29, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/07292024-RVWINSTON-ET-PU-11-medium.jpg?ssl=1\">\n <figcaption><em>RV residents begin setting up their vehicles inside an empty lot near the San Francisco Zoo after being displaced from Winston Drive, in San Francisco, Calif., on July 29, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Advocates from the Coalition on Homelessness joined the caravan, who helped RV families assemble their vehicles one by one into parking spaces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey told us we definitely had to go [from Winston],\u201d said Eusebia, citing a recent visit from Melgar and city staff. According to residents, park rangers and police arrived at the lot later that night and directed them to Zoo Road, near the Pomeroy Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By morning, only 10 RVs remained on Winston Drive. Around 20 had relocated to Zoo Road while the rest scattered to nearby streets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/07292024-RVWINSTON-ET-PU-13-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C399&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61812\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/07292024-RVWINSTON-ET-PU-13-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C399&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/07292024-RVWINSTON-ET-PU-13-medium.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/07292024-RVWINSTON-ET-PU-13-medium.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/07292024-RVWINSTON-ET-PU-13-medium.jpg?resize=1536%2C1022&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/07292024-RVWINSTON-ET-PU-13-medium.jpg?resize=1200%2C799&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/07292024-RVWINSTON-ET-PU-13-medium.jpg?resize=1024%2C681&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/07292024-RVWINSTON-ET-PU-13-medium.jpg?resize=1568%2C1044&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/07292024-RVWINSTON-ET-PU-13-medium.jpg?resize=400%2C266&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/07292024-RVWINSTON-ET-PU-13-medium.jpg?w=2000&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Angela Arostegui and other RV residents gather in a private lot near the San Francisco Zoo after organizing a late-night caravan from Winston Drive, in San Francisco, Calif., on July 29, 2024. Facing an imminent eviction and no safe parking alternative, families took the risk of occupying the lot \u2014 a desperate move that would soon trigger another displacement. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Zoo Road: The city\u2019s discarded solution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Zoo Road had been floated as a possible safe parking site as early as 2022, with <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01-03-22_Zoo-Road-VTC.jpg\">one proposal <\/a>accommodating up to 50 RVs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/El-Tecolote-Mail-Request-for-Comment_-Investigative-Report-on-RV-Enforcement-Policies.pdf\">written response<\/a>, Supervisor Melgar said: \u201cWe are a resource-rich city, but access is controlled by the Mayor\u2019s departments.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Melgar said she secured $10 million in the 2022\u20132023 budget for a safe parking site, but lacked the authority to get it done. \u201cDespite my staff and I pushing for several sites, including the parking lot at the zoo, this is not something an individual Supervisor has the power to do,\u201d she wrote. \u201cWe needed the Department (the Mayor) to do it.\u201d<br>At the time, Thornley <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/07-30-24_well-sited.jpg\">cautioned<\/a> that the site was \u201cwell-suited and -sited but politically impossible.\u201d The location borders the Pomeroy Center, which serves people with developmental disabilities.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"358\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01-03-22_Zoo-Road-VTC.jpg?resize=600%2C358&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-65886\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01-03-22_Zoo-Road-VTC.jpg?resize=600%2C358&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01-03-22_Zoo-Road-VTC.jpg?resize=360%2C215&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01-03-22_Zoo-Road-VTC.jpg?resize=768%2C458&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01-03-22_Zoo-Road-VTC.jpg?resize=1536%2C916&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01-03-22_Zoo-Road-VTC.jpg?resize=2048%2C1221&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01-03-22_Zoo-Road-VTC.jpg?resize=1200%2C716&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01-03-22_Zoo-Road-VTC.jpg?resize=1024%2C611&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01-03-22_Zoo-Road-VTC.jpg?resize=1568%2C935&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01-03-22_Zoo-Road-VTC.jpg?resize=2000%2C1193&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01-03-22_Zoo-Road-VTC.jpg?resize=400%2C239&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">This 2022 site proposal shows the city\u2019s plan to convert Zoo Road into a safe parking site for RV residents, with space for up to 50 vehicles and added amenities like portable toilets and showers. Although city officials described the site as \u201cwell-suited,\u201d internal resistance and neighborhood opposition led to the plan being quietly shelved. Image: City and County of San Francisco \/ Obtained by El Tecolote<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Pomeroy CEO David Dubinsky told<em> El Tecolote<\/em> that he contacted Supervisor Melgar and the mayor\u2019s office, urging them to relocate the RV community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThis isn&#8217;t a convenient place. I look at the families and the people in those RVs who have not really caused any trouble here, they&#8217;re like pawns in a political game\u201d Dubinsky said. \u201cSomebody is moving these people around for political reasons and not humanitarian reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On July 31, internal emails revealed that city staff had shifted from considering Zoo Road as a potential site to discussing how to clear it entirely. At the time, aside from routine street cleaning, there were no formal restrictions in place.<br>\u201cFrom here on out there will probably be a lot more SFPD (and HSOC) coordination and engagement,\u201d Thornley <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Re_-Winston-Buckingham-Vidal-time-limit-enforcement-flyers-on-windshields-today-8.1.24.pdf\">wrote<\/a> to SFMTA staff the next day. \u201cWe need a bigger answer, a lot of partial solutions only make us all work harder for poorer outcomes, but I\u2019m pretty pessimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-21-1.jpg?resize=600%2C399&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-65936\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-21-1.jpg?resize=600%2C399&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-21-1.jpg?resize=360%2C239&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-21-1.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-21-1.jpg?resize=400%2C266&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-21-1.jpg?w=1000&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Veronica Ca\u00f1as puts her hand on the window as her one-year-old son looks out from their RV in San Francisco, on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. \u201cWe are waiting to see where we can stay\u2014I feel like we aren\u2019t bothering anyone,\u201d Ca\u00f1as said, who lives with her husband and two small children. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A citywide 72-hour parking rule becomes tool for eviction<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just days after being relocated, many RV residents hoped Zoo Road might serve as a temporary refuge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI think we\u2019re much better here,\u201d said Yorman Roa, 30, who lived in his RV with his wife and two daughters. \u201cCars aren\u2019t passing by at high velocities&#8230; The place is, I think, a little safer and quieter.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Roa said city workers visited and asked about registration and services. \u201cNo individuals were hostile,\u201d SFMTA parking control officer Trevor Adams wrote in an August 1 <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/08-01-24_Zoo-Rd-Update.jpg\">email.<\/a> \u201cAll expressed their appreciation for our transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe city told us we can stay here temporarily, while they see if they can find an alternate site,\u201d said Roa, citing a visit from Melgar. \u201cWe will do our part and keep the space clean. Not come here and cause chaos.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>RV residents\u2019 hopes were dashed four days later. On August 6, SFMTA workers marked RV tires with chalk to enforce the citywide 72-hour parking rule.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\" width=\"600\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lGcWvPkRYcM?si=-ROkYfHfJWEwMdY8\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n\n\n\n<p>Internal emails questioned the legitimacy of using the rule to move RVs. \u201cThe purpose of [the] 72-hour rule is to ensure vehicles are not abandoned,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/07-31-24_72-hour-not-applicable.jpg\">wrote<\/a> SFMTA\u2019s Chadwick Lee. \u201cI do not believe it\u2019s applicable in this case.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The rule becomes unenforceable \u201cif there is any perceptible movement,\u201d Scott Edwards, Director of Parking Enforcement, wrote in an August 5 <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/08-05-24-chalk-policy-zoo-rd.pdf\">email<\/a> to SFMTA staff. \u201cIf a vehicle moves an inch, then it cannot be cited or towed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet enforcement moved forward. \u201cWe have a lot of families frantically contacting us from zoo road saying MTA is out there with tow trucks and enforcing [the] three day limit,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/08-06-24_frantic-families.jpg\">wrote<\/a> Jennifer Friedenbach of the Coalition on Homelessness in an August 6 email to Thornley. \u201cThese are families with kids, working and so forth who were instructed to move there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For RV residents, the 72-hour rule marked a shift from Winston Drive, where RVs only had to move for weekly street cleaning. Now, the constant pressure of moving came with consequences \u2014 both logistically and emotionally.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Eusebia\u2019s case, her RV home was damaged in the move from Winston Drive to Zoo Road. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy moving up and down the streets, risking ourselves and our kids,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/08082024-RVRESIDENTSZOOROAD-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C399&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-61990\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/08082024-RVRESIDENTSZOOROAD-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=600%2C399&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/08082024-RVRESIDENTSZOOROAD-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/08082024-RVRESIDENTSZOOROAD-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/08082024-RVRESIDENTSZOOROAD-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=1536%2C1022&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/08082024-RVRESIDENTSZOOROAD-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=1200%2C799&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/08082024-RVRESIDENTSZOOROAD-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=1024%2C681&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/08082024-RVRESIDENTSZOOROAD-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=1568%2C1044&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/08082024-RVRESIDENTSZOOROAD-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?resize=400%2C266&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/08082024-RVRESIDENTSZOOROAD-ET-PU-1-medium.jpg?w=2000&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">RV residents anxiously wait to see if their vehicles will be towed during the early morning in San Francisco, Calif., on Aug. 8, 2024. Photo: Pabo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Another construction project results in displacement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On August 7, 2024, SFMTA <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/24-08382-Zoo-Rd.pdf\">signed<\/a> a work order for curb painting and re-striping on Zoo Road \u2014 with the same <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/080724-zoo-rd-various-locations-01.png\">repaving contract<\/a> used to clear RVs from Winston Drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The next day, SFMTA and police began citing and towing RVs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe did great work today!\u201d SFMTA\u2019s Trevor Adams <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/08-08-24-zoo-tows-citations.pdf\">wrote<\/a> to his colleagues the following day. He reported that 20 vehicles had been marked under the 72-hour rule, and two were towed for expired registration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of the RVs towed belonged to Jamilet Calderon, 43.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m not going to go get it\u2026 it\u2019s gone,\u201d said Calderon, who scrambled to retrieve as many belongings as possible from the vehicle. \u201cWe bought that RV because we all can\u2019t fit in mine. I\u2019m left with a headache and trauma now. I haven\u2019t slept well.\u201d The RV housed her two kids, who were at work while city officials were citing and towing RVs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey took us out,\u201d said Gio, the RV resident who prefers to be identified only by his first name. \u201cThe police came to say they don\u2019t want us here anymore. They don\u2019t want to see us here by Monday [August 12].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<center><figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-instagram wp-block-embed-instagram\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C-lBVOsPcoE\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:500px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\"><div style=\"padding:16px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C-lBVOsPcoE\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;\" target=\"_blank\"> <div style=\" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\"> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; 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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\">View this post on Instagram<\/div><\/div><div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div> <div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\"><div> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div> <div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div><\/div><div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\"> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div> <div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\"><\/div><\/div><div style=\"margin-left: auto;\"> <div style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div> <div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div><\/div><\/div> <div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\"> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div> <div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div><\/div><\/a><\/div><\/blockquote><script async src=\"\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure><\/center>\n\n\n\n<p>By August 11, city workers posted \u201cNo Stopping\u201d signs, citing striping and street cleaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Advocates questioned whether the work had already been completed. \u201cFamilies who did not qualify for housing who were promised safe parking for 3 years by [the] city are being evicted again,\u201d read an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C-lBVOsPcoE\/?img_index=2&amp;igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ%3D%3D\">Instagram post <\/a>by the CoH on August 12. \u201cWe spoke to workers who confirmed the [restriping] work has been completed so why exactly does the city require them to move?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though initially described as temporary, the restrictions soon became permanent.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-15.jpg?resize=600%2C399&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66233\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-15.jpg?resize=600%2C399&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-15.jpg?resize=360%2C239&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-15.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-15.jpg?resize=1536%2C1022&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-15.jpg?resize=2048%2C1362&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-15.jpg?resize=1200%2C798&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-15.jpg?resize=1024%2C681&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-15.jpg?resize=1568%2C1043&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-15.jpg?resize=2000%2C1330&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/07312024-RVRESIDENTSWINSTON-ET-PU-15.jpg?resize=400%2C266&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ver\u00f3nica Ca\u00f1as and her mother, Eusebia Rosales, stand near a row of RVs parked by the San Francisco Zoo, awaiting the city\u2019s next move on a safe parking site, in San Francisco, on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Normally, major parking changes <a href=\"https:\/\/codelibrary.amlegal.com\/codes\/san_francisco\/latest\/sf_transportation\/0-0-0-52120\">require<\/a> a public hearing, a 10-day notice and SFMTA board approval. But on August 13, Thornley <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/08-08-24-zoo-executive-directive-04.png\">wrote<\/a> to colleagues that staff had used an \u201cemergency\/urgency\u201d justification to bypass that process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On September 6, SFMTA\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Order-6800.pdf\">Directive Order No. 6800<\/a> formally established a permanent Tow-Away No Stopping zone on key sections of Zoo Road. The order explicitly targeted RV residents, citing concerns about \u201cunsanitary dumping of human and household waste causing a public health problem\u201d and curb access for the Pomeroy Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By invoking an emergency directive instead of following public hearing and Board approval processes, city officials shut down Zoo Road as a parking option, despite once considering it a viable site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-12-copy.jpg?resize=600%2C399&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66093\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-12-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C399&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-12-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-12-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-12-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1022&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-12-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1363&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-12-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C798&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-12-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C681&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-12-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C1043&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-12-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1331&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-12-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C266&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A silhouette of 9-year-old Christopher in the kitchen of his family\u2019s new Parkmerced apartment in San Francisco, Calif., on Sept. 21, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>RV residents on Zoo Road get rushed into city-subsidized housing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ahead of the August 14 deadline to clear Zoo Road, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) said in an <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Re_-Zoo-Rd.pdf\">email<\/a> that it contacted the 22 families parked there. Twenty agreed to enroll in housing programs, and eight families with young children signed rapid rehousing leases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But even those who secured housing said the city made RV living so hostile they had no real choice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe city has us at the brink of the abyss,\u201d said Angela Arostegui. \u201cFirst on Winston, they gave us 4-hour parking rules. Then on Zoo Road, there wasn\u2019t a day without a ticket or a knock on the door.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Angela said city officials offered three options: a temporary shelter, one month of free rent or a one-way ticket out of San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey asked, \u2018Do you have family in another state? What\u2019s keeping you here?\u2019\u201d she recalled. Angela answered: her daughter\u2019s school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI felt it was grotesque,\u201d she said. \u201cLike they just wanted to get rid of the problem.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"rv-hero-chapter-triptych\">\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-19-copy-2-scaled.jpg?ssl=1\">\n\n <figcaption><em>Diana Herrera, daughter of Eusebia Rosales, naps with her 2-year-old daughter on her parents\u2019 couch inside their Parkmerced apartment in San Francisco, Calif., on Sept. 21, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-4-copy-scaled.jpg?ssl=1\">\n <figcaption><em>Eusebia Rosales stands for a portrait inside her new Parkmerced apartment in San Francisco, Calif., on Sept. 21, 2024. She and her family spent several months living in an RV before securing subsidized housing through the city. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Even families who accepted housing had nowhere to go in the meantime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey told us we had to move that day,\u201d said Eusebia. \u201cWe left Zoo Road, parked by the ocean, and by 2 a.m., police arrived. We had to move again. We were exhausted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those rehoused in Parkmerced under the city\u2019s rapid rehousing program were told to pay 30% of their income \u2014 with rent increasing over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Angela feared she wouldn\u2019t be able to keep up. \u201cThey said rent would start at 40% of our income, then go up monthly until we paid it all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Eusebia receives $840 a month in disability benefits and said her rent will soon rise to $674 \u2014 for an apartment that typically rents for $3,500.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-9-copy.jpg?resize=600%2C399&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66092\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-9-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C399&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-9-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-9-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-9-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1022&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-9-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1363&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-9-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C798&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-9-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C681&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-9-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C1043&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-9-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1331&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-9-copy-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C266&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The view from Eusebia Rosales\u2019s Parkmerced apartment window in San Francisco, Calif., on Sept. 21, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/El-Tecolote-Mail-Request-for-Comment_-Investigative-Report-on-RV-Enforcement-Policies.pdf\">written response<\/a>, Supervisor Melgar defended the program\u2019s limits:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe subsidies have a time limit, and I think that\u2019s okay \u2014 they will allow these families time to find a better situation,\u201d she wrote. \u201cThe families on Winston Drive had asked for a safe parking place for two years \u2014 the temporary housing vouchers cover three years, with the possibility to extend to five if the family still needs it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yet others were simply left behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe city did nothing for us,\u201d said Marcivon Oliveira, a 46-year-old Uber and Lyft driver. He said more than a dozen RV residents forced out of Winston had to leave San Francisco altogether, now struggling to find parking in Palo Alto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/section>\n<section id=\"chapter-4\">\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video alignfull\"><video class=\u201drvcontrolsMobile\u201d autoplay loop muted src=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/LEAVING_ZOO_ROAD.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">The Rosales family prepares to leave Zoo Road after being ordered to move by city officials, in San Francisco, Calif., on August 13, 2024. Though approved for a housing subsidy, the family still had nowhere to legally park their RV. Video: Erika Carlos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><strong>Displacement spreads \u2014 and becomes city policy<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em><em>What began as localized enforcement on Winston Drive quickly evolved into a citywide playbook for removing RV residents. As families scattered across San Francisco in search of stability, officials leaned on construction schedules, the 72-hour parking rule and complaint-driven enforcement.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Supervisor Melgar had requested enforcement on Winston Drive and surrounding streets, internal emails show the city <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/07-02-24-winston-enforcement-orders.png\">held off<\/a> on Lake Merced Boulevard to avoid \u201ca large amount of RVs suddenly descending on other parts of the city all at once.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Amid mass displacement, Mayor London Breed fast-tracked a <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/NEW_2024-Recreational-Large-Vehicle-Towing-Resolution-Version-13_09-13-24.docx-Google-Docs.pdf\">citywide RV ban<\/a> in August 2024, similar to her approach to street encampments. Under the proposed policy, RVs could be towed if the people living inside declined a shelter offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re going to get a lot more calls about this from impacted neighborhoods,\u201d SFMTA\u2019s Hank Wilson <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/08-12-24_crack-down.jpg\">wrote<\/a> to colleagues on August 12, adding that neighbors were likely to say, \u201chey the Mayor says she\u2019s cracking down, can we get a crackdown here?\u201d or \u201chey your crackdown in other neighborhoods is leading to an uptick in RV parking in our part of town.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On September 12, <em>El Tecolote<\/em> published a leaked <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/NEW_2024-Recreational-Large-Vehicle-Towing-Resolution-Version-13_09-13-24.docx-Google-Docs.pdf\">draft<\/a> of the proposal, which aimed to revise the city\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfbos.org\/ftp\/uploadedfiles\/bdsupvrs\/ordinances12\/o0211-12.pdf\">traffic code<\/a> to make overnight parking violations towable \u2014 in addition to the standard $108 citation. The measure would have expanded both the number of restricted streets and SFMTA\u2019s enforcement powers.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_0c72e4d0-41ea-4bcb-9b79-00910704cecf_1_1727897165_0c72e4d0-full.jpg?resize=600%2C399&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66237\" style=\"width:600px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_0c72e4d0-41ea-4bcb-9b79-00910704cecf_1_1727897165_0c72e4d0-full-scaled.jpg?resize=600%2C399&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_0c72e4d0-41ea-4bcb-9b79-00910704cecf_1_1727897165_0c72e4d0-full-scaled.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_0c72e4d0-41ea-4bcb-9b79-00910704cecf_1_1727897165_0c72e4d0-full-scaled.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_0c72e4d0-41ea-4bcb-9b79-00910704cecf_1_1727897165_0c72e4d0-full-scaled.jpg?resize=1536%2C1022&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_0c72e4d0-41ea-4bcb-9b79-00910704cecf_1_1727897165_0c72e4d0-full-scaled.jpg?resize=2048%2C1363&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_0c72e4d0-41ea-4bcb-9b79-00910704cecf_1_1727897165_0c72e4d0-full-scaled.jpg?resize=1200%2C798&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_0c72e4d0-41ea-4bcb-9b79-00910704cecf_1_1727897165_0c72e4d0-full-scaled.jpg?resize=1024%2C681&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_0c72e4d0-41ea-4bcb-9b79-00910704cecf_1_1727897165_0c72e4d0-full-scaled.jpg?resize=1568%2C1043&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_0c72e4d0-41ea-4bcb-9b79-00910704cecf_1_1727897165_0c72e4d0-full-scaled.jpg?resize=2000%2C1331&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/609_0c72e4d0-41ea-4bcb-9b79-00910704cecf_1_1727897165_0c72e4d0-full-scaled.jpg?resize=400%2C266&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Homeless advocates demonstrate outside San Francisco City Hall on Oct. 1, 2024 just hours before the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency approved new RV parking restrictions in a 6\u20131 vote. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The backlash was swift. \u201cMayor Breed\u2019s inclusion of \u2018service offers\u2019 as a means to force people to give up their homes for a temporary shelter bed is nonsensical and counterintuitive,\u201d the Coalition on Homelessness said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DAB-1rPgnjA\/?hl=en\">statement<\/a>. \u201cOur city\u2019s shelter waitlist is 12 days long. By compelling the 90% of unsheltered homeless families who live in vehicles into temporary shelter and dispossessing them of their homes, the Mayor is forcing families into further instability and keeping those on the waitlist unsheltered for longer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Behind the scenes, internal communications <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/sf-rv-ban-enforcement-challenges\/\">revealed<\/a> that key SFMTA staff were also deeply conflicted, raising concerns about limited towing capacity, strained outreach teams and ethical questions about targeting inhabited vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a \u201cprivileged and confidential\u201d risk memo, SFMTA staff said Mayor Breed\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sf.gov\/news\/mayor-london-breed-proposes-new-city-policy-address-oversized-vehicle-parking-across-san\">messaging<\/a> around offering shelter before towing could be \u201cproblematic\u201d in practice. The memo advised the Mayor to \u201ccontinue to push for more affordable housing without making [<a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Encl-4_SFMTA-Tow-Policy-2021.pdf\">the current policy<\/a>] towable and declaring it will be implemented citywide.\u201d<br>The final policy, <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/sf-rv-towing-policy-nov-1\/\">approved<\/a> on October 1, 2024 was a retreat from the original plan. It preserved the city\u2019s piecemeal, block-by-block approach, but gave officials new power to tow RVs if a shelter offer was declined, even as shelter options remained limited and temporary.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/10012024-SFMTARVBANMEETING-ET-PU-18-copy.jpg?resize=600%2C399&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/10012024-SFMTARVBANMEETING-ET-PU-18-copy.jpg?resize=600%2C399&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/10012024-SFMTARVBANMEETING-ET-PU-18-copy.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/10012024-SFMTARVBANMEETING-ET-PU-18-copy.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/10012024-SFMTARVBANMEETING-ET-PU-18-copy.jpg?resize=1536%2C1022&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/10012024-SFMTARVBANMEETING-ET-PU-18-copy.jpg?resize=2048%2C1363&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/10012024-SFMTARVBANMEETING-ET-PU-18-copy.jpg?resize=1200%2C799&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/10012024-SFMTARVBANMEETING-ET-PU-18-copy.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/10012024-SFMTARVBANMEETING-ET-PU-18-copy.jpg?resize=1568%2C1044&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/10012024-SFMTARVBANMEETING-ET-PU-18-copy.jpg?resize=2000%2C1331&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/10012024-SFMTARVBANMEETING-ET-PU-18-copy.jpg?resize=400%2C266&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Eliseo Dijon, 33, an RV resident, waits in line to give public comment before the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board at City Hall on Oct. 1, 2024. Dijon was one of dozens urging the board to reject new RV parking restrictions. Despite opposition, the SFMTA voted 6\u20131 in favor of the rules, which take effect Nov. 1 and could result in the towing of hundreds of RV homes. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Described by advocates as the \u201cmass criminalization of the working poor,\u201d the policy collapsed under scrutiny. On October 29, the End Poverty Tows Coalition filed an appeal, pausing its implementation until the Board of Supervisors could vote on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By November, voters ousted Mayor Breed in favor of Levi Strauss heir Daniel Lurie. Melgar was reelected to the Board. On December 10, the Board of Supervisors \u2014 including Melgar, who had previously pushed for RV enforcement \u2014 voted to <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/san-francisco-rv-towing-policy-overturned\/\">overturn<\/a> the policy.<br>\u201cYou don\u2019t do the punitive measures first and then figure out a system,\u201d Melgar said during the hearing. \u201cEventually, I will support the parking restrictions when we have a plan to deal with them, which I don\u2019t think we have today.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01092024-SFMTARVLATINOS-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=600%2C400&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66235\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01092024-SFMTARVLATINOS-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=600%2C400&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01092024-SFMTARVLATINOS-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01092024-SFMTARVLATINOS-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=768%2C512&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01092024-SFMTARVLATINOS-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=1536%2C1024&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01092024-SFMTARVLATINOS-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=2048%2C1366&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01092024-SFMTARVLATINOS-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01092024-SFMTARVLATINOS-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=1024%2C683&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01092024-SFMTARVLATINOS-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=1568%2C1046&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01092024-SFMTARVLATINOS-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=2000%2C1334&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/01092024-SFMTARVLATINOS-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=400%2C267&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar attends a Board of Supervisors meeting at San Francisco City Hall on Jan. 9, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mass displacement leads to predictable consequences<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Displacing more than a hundred RVs from the Lake Merced area without a long-term solution had predictable consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAs many predicted, displacing these vehicles from Winston Drive has merely moved the problem to other areas,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/08-09-24_Moved-the-problem.jpg\">wrote an anonymous constituent<\/a> to District 4 Supervisor Joe Engardio on August 9, 2024. \u201cEach day more and more RVs, vans, trailers, and trucks are showing up in front of Rolph Nicol Park and around the Merced Manor Reservoir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another constituent <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/08-14-24_Engardio-complaint-on-Winston.jpg\">wrote<\/a> on August 14: \u201cIs the City&#8217;s plan to declare victory by moving RVs off Winston Drive and Lake Merced Blvd, when the problem has merely been transferred to an even more residential area?&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In response, Supervisor Engardio <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/24-4980-restriction.pdf\">asked SFMTA staff<\/a> to curb RV parking in his district by turning unrestricted sites into Residential Parking Permit zones or imposing hourly limits like the four-hour restrictions used on Winston Drive, using the same tactics that displaced RV residents before.<br>The strategy appeared effective \u2014 at least on the surface. By August 18, SFMTA parking control officer Trevor Adams reported that \u201cmany of the RVs and trailers relocated to John Muir [Drive] and Vidal [Drive],\u201d just a mile or two from where they had been displaced. \u201cWinston remains clear,\u201d he added in an <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Email-20.pdf\">email<\/a> to SFMTA\u2019s Scott Edwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"rv-hero-chapter-triptych\">\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-9-copy.jpg?ssl=1\">\n\n <figcaption><em>City parking restrictions are backdropped with an RV near Lake Merced in San Francisco, Calif., on Sept. 17, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-8-copy-scaled.jpg?ssl=1\">\n <figcaption><em>An RV is parked near Lake Merced in San Francisco, Calif., on Sept. 17, 2024. Some RVs parked near Lake Merced were once parked on Winston Drive before they were forced to leave by the city. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But the displacement simply shifted the problem elsewhere. Some RV residents relocated to the Bayview, another San Francisco neighborhood that has long borne the burden of displacement. \u201cWe obviously need a bigger citywide plan and process,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/RE-Phelps-st-RVs.pdf\">wrote<\/a> Thornley on August 21, responding to a complaint on Phelps Street. \u201cOr we\u2019ll just keep pushing large vehicles around from neighborhood to neighborhood \u2014 not good for anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Internally, SFMTA began strategizing which areas to prioritize. \u201cWe don\u2019t have the resources to enforce the parking laws all the time on every street in San Francisco,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/08-16-24_RV-talking-points.jpg\">wrote<\/a> SFMTA\u2019s Leanne Nhan on August 16. \u201cSo we focus first on areas with traffic safety concerns. After that, we prioritize where there are complaints from neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One of those recurring complaints came from San Francisco State University. Even after top school officials pushed to clear Winston Drive, RVs simply moved to the other side of campus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe RVs have moved out [from Winston Drive] but some of them are parking on 19th Avenue next to our housing and academic buildings,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/RE-19th-Avenue-White-Zone-.pdf\">wrote<\/a> SFSU broker Hamid Ghaemmaghami to Thornley on September 18. \u201cAgain trash is being thrown down on the sidewalk, they do not move, and we are receiving complaints. What can be done?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Supervisor Melgar says the Winston Drive crackdown offers hard lessons \u2014 not just about enforcement, but about the system\u2019s failure to meet the needs of families living in vehicles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAn offer of temporary shelter is not an alternative to living in a vehicle,\u201d she <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/El-Tecolote-Mail-Request-for-Comment_-Investigative-Report-on-RV-Enforcement-Policies.pdf\">wrote<\/a>. \u201cThe alternative is affordable, safe housing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-20-copy.jpg?resize=600%2C399&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-66245\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-20-copy.jpg?resize=600%2C399&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-20-copy.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-20-copy.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-20-copy.jpg?resize=1536%2C1022&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-20-copy.jpg?resize=2048%2C1363&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2048w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-20-copy.jpg?resize=1200%2C799&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-20-copy.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-20-copy.jpg?resize=1568%2C1044&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-20-copy.jpg?resize=2000%2C1331&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 2000w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-20-copy.jpg?resize=400%2C266&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">RVs are seen parked near an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco\u2019s Bayview neighborhood on Sept. 17, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>She also emphasized the need for parking restrictions to prevent exploitation of \u201cfree\u201d public space, but cautioned against punitive tactics: \u201ctowing should be the last resort, not the first, and people, especially families need supports to be successfully housed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Melgar acknowledged that the city\u2019s departments \u201clack a common goal, vision, system\u201d and \u201cdata tracking mechanism to ensure housing success\u201d for addressing vehicular homelessness. \u201cWe must build this system, and it must have staff who are knowledgeable, have language capacity and cultural competence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>She stressed that immigrant families \u2014 who made up much of the Winston Drive community \u2014 require services that the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing isn\u2019t equipped to provide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNewcomers to our country need a totally different set of services than those offered most frequently by HSH. They need newcomer services \u2014 not mental health, and substance abuse services.\u201d While she praised community nonprofits for stepping in, she said the city must do more: \u201cthe Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs needs to add this service to their workplan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the displacement fractured what little stability RV families had left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cCurrently, RVs are scattered across different streets in search of stability,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/08-16-24-coh-rvs-witness-yessica-hernandez.pdf\">wrote<\/a> Coalition on Homelessness\u2019 Yessica Hernandez to SFMTA staff that same day. \u201cOn Lake Merced, residents are being harassed under the 72-hour rule, even though they are moving their vehicles regularly for street sweeping \u2026 It breaks my heart to see children and families struggling without the stability they deserve, especially as the school year begins.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignfull size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-4.jpg?resize=600%2C399&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-62561\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-4.jpg?resize=600%2C399&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-4.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-4.jpg?resize=768%2C511&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-4.jpg?resize=1536%2C1022&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1536w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-4.jpg?resize=1200%2C799&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-4.jpg?resize=1024%2C682&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-4.jpg?resize=1568%2C1044&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1568w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-4.jpg?resize=400%2C266&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/09172024-TMOS-ET-PU-4.jpg?w=1600&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Parking restrictions are posted near an RV by Lake Merced in San Francisco, Calif., on Sept. 17, 2024. The city has proposed new rules that would ban large vehicles \u2014 including mobile homes and travel trailers \u2014 from parking on city-managed streets between midnight and 6 a.m.\nPhoto: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>By December, 19th Avenue, a high-traffic corridor bordering SFSU, had become the next target for RV displacement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI took a look yesterday and observed about a dozen likely shelter vehicles parked on that stretch of 19th Ave,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/19th-Ave-parking-time-limits-at-SFMTA-board-next-week.pdf\">wrote<\/a> Thornley to HSH staff on December 10. A week later, on December 17, the SFMTA Board <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfmta.com\/media\/41426\/download?inline\">approved<\/a> a proposal from SFSU to implement four-hour parking limits along the corridor.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cQuestion might be how will we handle enforcement,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Re-Webex-link-to-this-afternoon_s-MTAB-meeting-please.pdf\">wrote<\/a> SFMTA\u2019s Director of Streets Viktoriya Wise to Thornley. \u201cMy plan is to say we would handle it similar to Winston. Do you agree?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thornley <a href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Re-Webex-link-to-this-afternoons-MTAB-meeting-please.pdf\">replied<\/a> with a now-refined strategy: legislate the restriction, coordinate sign installation, post multilingual flyers, allow a two-week grace period and begin enforcement \u2014 while looping the homeless department and other agencies to manage fallout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added that while Winston Drive and Buckingham Way remained clear since the new 4-hour parking rules took effect, Vidal Drive \u2014 which already had long-standing 4-hour time limits \u2014 was now \u201cmore parked-up with RVs and other large vehicles and trailers than it\u2019s ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s going on with Vidal,\u201d Thornley wrote, noting he\u2019d flyered the street in July and coordinated enforcement at Supervisor Melgar\u2019s request. \u201c&#8230; but it\u2019s a stark illustration of our limitations, to put it mildly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video autoplay loop muted src=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/VERONICA_RV.mp4\"><\/video><\/figure><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Veronica Ca\u00f1as stands inside her RV with her children in the Land\u2019s End parking lot after being forced to leave Zoo Road in San Francisco, Calif., on August 13, 2024. Her family had been approved for a housing subsidy, but still had nowhere to park. Video: Erika Carlos Video: Erika Carlos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A uniquely Latinx RV community, destroyed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfmta.com\/projects\/lake-merced-quick-build-project\">Lake Merced Quick-Build<\/a> project is stalled. Winston Drive is still <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfmta.com\/media\/42185\/download?inline\">not repaved<\/a>. In the neighborhood, RVs still park on Lake Merced Boulevard, Vidal Drive, and have spread to streets like 19th Avenue and John Muir Drive. Yet, RVs have vanished from Winston Drive and Zoo Road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>El Tecolote<\/em> has been tracking where displaced families ended up \u2014 and how much harder survival has become.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the Arostegui family, the outcome has been relatively positive. Arlen, Angela and their two daughters now live in Parkmerced through a city subsidy program. \u201cGracias a Dios, estamos tranquilos,\u201d Angela said. While the rent is income-based and manageable for now, the subsidy only lasts three years. \u201cTime flies,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re already trying to find a more permanent option.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"342\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1_082024-UNHOUSEDVOICES-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=600%2C342&#038;quality=89&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-62259\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1_082024-UNHOUSEDVOICES-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=600%2C342&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 600w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1_082024-UNHOUSEDVOICES-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=360%2C205&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 360w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1_082024-UNHOUSEDVOICES-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=768%2C437&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1_082024-UNHOUSEDVOICES-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=1024%2C583&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1_082024-UNHOUSEDVOICES-ET-PU-01.jpg?resize=400%2C228&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/1_082024-UNHOUSEDVOICES-ET-PU-01.jpg?w=1200&amp;quality=89&amp;ssl=1 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Marlon Arostegui, who fled political turmoil in Nicaragua, stands beside the RV he has lived in for several years in San Francisco, Calif., on Aug. 2, 2024. Arostegui is part of an RV community that has faced forced displacement by the city since July. For him, the RV is not just a vehicle, it\u2019s home. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>The rest of the Arostegui family is scattered. Arlen\u2019s cousin Marlon is still living in an RV, parking near Parkmerced. Lisandro Arostegui, Arlen\u2019s nephew, now rents a room in Las Vegas, far from the support of his family. His RV, hitched to a broken-down truck, became immobile just as the city was preparing to clear Winston Drive. He managed to sell it a day before the eviction. With nowhere else to go, he and his wife left San Francisco and spent weeks sleeping in their car while searching for safe places to park across Bakersfield and other cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt wasn\u2019t the plan \u2014 it was more like an adventure we didn\u2019t choose,\u201d he said. \u201cWe had to leave everything behind.\u201d They\u2019re more stable now, but Lisandro still hopes to return to San Francisco. \u201cAt least in Winston, I had my family close,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were helping each other. That made it easier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"rv-hero-chapter-triptych\">\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-1\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-14-scaled.jpg?ssl=1\">\n\n <figcaption><em>Left: Eusevia Rosales, 48, and Mario Herrera, 54, sit inside their new Parkmerced apartment in San Francisco, Calif., on Sept. 21, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n\n<div>\n <img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rv-triptych-2\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/09212024-HOUSEDRVRESIDENTS-ET-PU-11.jpg?ssl=1\">\n <figcaption><em>The grandchildren of Eusevia Rosales sit at the dining table inside their new Parkmerced apartment in San Francisco, Calif., on Sept. 21, 2024. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote\/CatchLight Local<\/em><\/figcaption>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Others, like the Rosales family, are struggling under the weight of promises that didn\u2019t pan out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey tell you one thing and then another,\u201d said Ver\u00f3nica, who now lives in Parkmerced through the same subsidy program. Her caseworker recently told her the family must begin paying full rent by next year, despite initial promises of a 24-month subsidy. With no stable jobs and little guidance, she\u2019s unsure how they\u2019ll manage. \u201cThey demand so much from you that you start to feel incapable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Her mother, Eusebia Rosales, is also under pressure. Though she receives disability income, her caseworker has pushed her to find work or prepare to leave. She said the rent could soon rise to 70% of market rate \u2014 far beyond what she brings in each month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThey want us to save money,\u201d she said. \u201cBut how can we save if we need to eat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, Ver\u00f3nica and Eusebia are trying to plan for what comes next. The city offered to buy their RVs for $1,500 each, but they refused. Instead of selling, they parked them in South San Francisco, just in case. \u201cIf they kick us out, we\u2019ll return to our RVs again,\u201d Eusebia said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cLiving in the trailer was hard, especially for the kids,\u201d Ver\u00f3nica said. \u201cBut at least you didn\u2019t have all this stress. Yes, there was always the fear of being forced off the street, but at least it was ours.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In its rush to fix optics, San Francisco dismantled a rare kind of stability \u2014 one that working-class immigrant families had built themselves, without the city\u2019s help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the end, the city removed the RVs, but left the deeper issues unresolved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And now, the crisis is worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>This story is part one of a four-part series.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video aligncenter\"><video autoplay loop muted src=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/END_CLIP.mp4\"><\/video><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Veronica Ca\u00f1as plays with her infant son inside their RV, parked at Land\u2019s End, after being forced to leave Zoo Road in San Francisco, Calif., on August 13, 2024. Her family had been approved for a housing subsidy, but still had nowhere to park. Video: Erika Carlos<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<style>\n\/* ***** *\/\n\/*  STYLE FOR THIS SPECIFIC WP POST *\/\n\/* ***** *\/\n\nbody.postid-62055 #content.site-content {\n    overflow: clip;\n}\n\nbody.postid-62055 #primary {\n    width: 100vw;\n    max-width: 100vw;\n}\n\nbody.postid-62055 #masthead {\n    visibility: hidden;\n    height: 0;\n}\n\nbody.postid-62055 .entry-header {\n    margin: 0;\n    padding-top: 2rem;\n    text-align: center;\n    visibility: hidden;\n    background: white;\n}\n\nbody.postid-62055 .entry-title {\n    padding-right: 1rem;\n    padding-left: 1rem;\n}\n\nbody.postid-62055 .entry-meta {\n    display: flex;\n    justify-content: center;\n    align-items: center;\n}\n\nbody.postid-62055 .site-footer {\n    background: white;\n    margin: 0;\n}\n\nbody.postid-62055 .author-bio {\n    background: white;\n    margin: 0;\n    display: none;\n}\n\nbody.postid-62055 .entry-footer {\n    display: none;\n}\n\nbody.postid-62055 {\n    margin: 0;\n}\n\n\n\/* ***** *\/\n\/* TECO LOGO TOPPER *\/\n\/* ***** *\/\n\n.rv-tecoLogo {\n    position: fixed;\n    height: 50px;\n    top: 0; \n    left: 50%;\n    transform: translateX(-50%);\n    display: flex;\n    justify-content: center;\n    background: black;\n    width: 100%;\n  }\n  \n.rv-tecoLogo img {\n    height: 100%;\n    width: auto; \n}\n\n\n\/* ***** *\/\n\/* SCROLLY VIDEO TOPPER *\/\n\/* ***** *\/\n\n.rv-hero-header { \n    position: relative;\n    height: 300vh;\n}\n\n.rv-hero-video {\n    position: fixed;\n    top: 50px;\n    left: 0;\n    width: 100%;\n    height: 100vh;\n    object-fit: cover;\n    z-index: -1;\n}\n#rv-heroVideoSelect {\n    height: 100vh;\n    width: 100%;\n}\n.rv-header-text {\n    max-width: 400px;\n    display: flex;\n    flex-direction: column;\n    align-items: center;\n    justify-content: center; \n    color: white;\n    margin: 0 auto;\n    text-align: center;\n}\n\n.subtext:first-of-type {\n    margin-top: 100vh;\n}\n\n.subtext {\n    margin-top: 70vh;\n    font-size: 1.3rem;\n    padding: 1.5rem;\n    text-shadow: 1px 1px 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.7);\n    background-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.5); \n    border-radius: 3px;\n} \n\n\n\/* ***** *\/\n\/* CONTENT BELOW THE VIDEO TOPPER *\/\n\/* ***** *\/\n\n.rv-content-story {\n    position: relative;\n    background: white;\n    min-height: 100vh;\n    z-index: 1;\n    padding-top: 3rem;\n    padding-bottom: 1rem;\n    margin-top: 0 !important;\n}\n\n.rv-content-story p, .rv-content-story h2 {\n    margin: 1rem auto;\n    padding: 0 2rem;\n}\n\n.rv-content-story ul {\n    margin: 2rem auto;\n    padding: 0 3rem;\n}\n\n.rv-content-story li {\n    padding-bottom: 1rem;\n}\n\n\n\/* ***** *\/\n\/* STICKY NAV *\/\n\/* ***** *\/\n\n.rv-nav-chap {\n    display: flex;\n    position: sticky;\n    top: 0;\n    left: 0;\n    justify-content: space-around;\n    background: white;\n    transition: transform 0.5s ease, opacity 0.3s ease;\n    transform: translateY(-100%);\n    opacity: 0;\n    visibility: hidden;\n    z-index: 1000;\n    align-items: center;\n    height: 0;\n}\n\n.rv-nav-chap.visible {\n    transform: translateY(0); \n    opacity: 1;\n    visibility: visible;\n    height: 100%;\n}\n\n.rv-nav-chap .rv-nav-hed-wrap {\n    border-right: 1px dotted black;\n    position: relative;\n    font-size: 0.6rem;\n    height: 40px;\n    overflow: hidden;\n    text-overflow: ellipsis;\n    display: flex;              \n    align-items: center;  \n    padding: 0 0.3rem;   \n    color: black;\n    text-decoration: none;\n    white-space: nowrap;\n    width: 100%;   \n}\n\n.rv-nav-chap .rv-nav-hed-wrap {\n    transition: flex-grow 0.3s ease, width 0.6s ease;\n    flex-grow: 1; \n}\n\n.rv-nav-chap .rv-nav-hed-wrap:active {\n    flex-grow: 2;\n}\n\n.rv-nav-chap .rv-nav-hed-wrap a {\n    color: black;\n    text-decoration: none;\n    white-space: nowrap;\n    width: 100%;   \n    font-weight: 800;            \n}\n\n.rv-nav-chap .rv-progress-bar {\n    box-sizing: border-box;\n    margin-left: 0.3rem;\n}\n\n.rv-nav-chap div:last-of-type {\n    border-right: none;\n}\n\n.rv-progress-bar { \n    position: absolute;\n    bottom: 0;\n    left: 0;\n    height: 5px;\n    width: 0px;\n    background-color: #636363;\n    border-radius: 0px 5px 5px 0px;\n}\n\n\n\/* ***** *\/\n\/* SCROLLY TIMELINE *\/\n\/* ***** *\/\n\n.rv-story-scroller {\n    margin: 1.5rem;\n\n}\n.rv-story-scroller .rv-story-container:last-of-type {\n    margin-bottom: 20vh;\n}\n\n.rv-story-container {\n    display: flex;\n    flex-direction: column;\n    height: auto;\n}\n\n.rv-story-sticky-figure {\n    display: flex;\n    flex-direction: column;\n    position: sticky;\n    top: 0;\n    padding: 0;\n    padding-bottom: 7rem;\n    margin: 0;\n    overflow: hidden;\n    background: linear-gradient(to bottom,\n        rgba(255,255,255,1) 0%,\n        rgba(255,255,255,1) 75.1%,\n        rgba(255,255,255,1) 85%,\n        rgba(255,255,255,0) 100%\n    );\n    z-index: 200;\n}\n\n.rv-story-sticky-figure .rv-scroll-hed {\n    margin: 1rem auto 0.5rem auto;\n    text-align: center;\n}\n\n.rv-story-sticky-figure img {\n    width: 100%;\n    height: 100%;\n    object-fit: cover;\n    margin: 0 auto;\n}\n\n.rv-story-content {\n    max-width: 85%;\n    margin: 0 auto;\n    margin-bottom: 15rem;\n    height: auto;\n}\n\n.rv-story-content h3 {\n    margin: 1rem auto 0.5rem auto;\n    font-size: 1.2rem;\n}\n\n.rv-story-content:first-child {\n\tmargin-top: 10vh;\n}\n\n.rv-story-content:last-child {\n\tmargin-bottom: 5rem;\n}\n\n.rv-story-officialQuote {\n\tposition: relative;\n\tbackground-color: #f7f4f4;\n\tborder: 0.1px solid black;\n\tborder-radius: 10px;\n\tmax-width: 400px;\n\tz-index: 100;\n}\n\n.rv-story-officialQuote p, .rv-story-officialQuote blockquote {\n\tfont-size: 1rem;\n\tpadding: 1.2rem;\n\tmargin: 0;\n\n}\n\n.rv-story-quoteCitation {\n\tdisplay: flex;\n\talign-items: center;\n\tbackground: white;\n\tborder-radius: 0px 0px 10px 10px;\n\tpadding: 0.8rem 1.2rem;\n}\n\n.rv-story-quoteCitation img {\n\tmax-width: 50px;\n\tborder-radius: 50%;\n\tmargin-right: 0.5rem;\n}\n\n.rv-story-quoteAuthor {\n\tfont-weight: 900;;\n}\n\n.rv-story-quoteAuthor-intro {\n    display: block;\n    color: black;\n}\n\n.rv-story-quoteWorkplace {\n\tfont-size: 0.9rem;\n\tfont-weight: 100;\n\tcolor: #5e5e5e;\n}\n\n.rv-quote-response::before {\n\tcontent: '';\n\tposition: absolute;\n\ttop: -2.5rem;\n\tleft: -4rem;\n\twidth: 50px;\n\theight: 100px;\n\tborder-left: 2px dotted black; \n\tborder-bottom: 2px dotted black;\n}\n\n.rv-quote-response {\n\tmargin: 3rem 0 0 5rem;\n}\n\n.rv-story-square {\n\tz-index: 1;\n\theight: 70vh;\n\twidth: 100%;\n\tbackground: rgb(255,255,255);\n\tbackground: linear-gradient(to top, \n\t\trgba(255,255,255,1) 0%,\n\t\trgba(255,255,255,1) 75%,\n\t\trgba(255,255,255,0) 100%\n\t); \n}\n\n\n\/* ***** *\/\n\/* TRIPTYCH *\/\n\/* ***** *\/\n\n.rv-hero-chapter-triptych {\n    display: flex;\n    flex-direction: column-reverse;\n    margin: 5rem auto;\n    width: 95vw;\n}\n\n.rv-hero-chapter-triptych img {\n    width: 100%;\n}\n\n\n\/* ***** *\/\n\/* RECIRCULATE SIDEBAR *\/\n\/* ***** *\/\n\n.rv-recirculate {\n    float: none;\n    border-top: 2px solid black;\n    border-bottom: 2px solid black;\n    margin: 1rem auto;\n    padding: 1rem 0.5rem;\n    max-width: 400px;\n}\n\n.rv-recirculate h4 {\n    margin-bottom: 0.4rem;\n    padding-left: 0;\n    margin-top: 0;\n}\n\n.rv-recirculate p {\n    margin: 0;\n    font-weight: 100;\n    padding-left: 0;\n    padding-right: 0;\n    font-size: 0.9rem;\n}\n\n.rv-titleCollection {\n    padding: 0 0.5rem;\n}\n\n.rv-titleCollection h4 {\nmargin-bottom: 1.5rem;\n}\n\n.rv-linksCollection {\n    margin-top: 1.5rem;\n}\n\n.rv-storyLink {\n    display: flex;\n    gap: 1rem;\n    color: black;\n    text-decoration: none !important;\n    gap: 0.5rem;\n    align-items: center;\n    padding: 0.5rem;\n    margin-bottom: 0;\n}\n\n.rv-storyLink:hover {\n    background: #F2F2F2;\n    border-radius: 5px;\n}\n\n.rv-storyLink .rv-imgContainer {\n    flex: 1;\n    min-width: 100px;\n    max-width: 200px;\n}\n\n.rv-storyLink h5 {\n    flex: 1;\n    margin: 0;\n    align-content:center;\n    font-weight: 500;\n}\n\n\nsection {\n    scroll-margin-top: 100px;\n}\n\n\/* DESKTOP STYLES *\/\n@media screen and (min-width: 850px) {\n\n    \/* ***** *\/\n    \/* SCROLLY VIDEO TOPPER *\/\n    \/* ***** *\/\n\n    .rv-header-text {\n        max-width: 700px;\n    }\n\n    \/* ***** *\/\n    \/* CONTENT BELOW THE VIDEO TOPPER *\/\n    \/* ***** *\/\n\n    .rv-content-story {\n        position: relative;\n    }\n\n    .rv-content-story p, .rv-content-story h2 {\n        max-width: 700px;\n    }\n\n    .rv-content-story ul {\n        max-width: 550px;\n        padding: 0 2.5rem; \n    }\n\n    \/* ***** *\/\n    \/* STICKY NAV *\/\n    \/* ***** *\/\n\n    .rv-nav-chap {\n        display: flex;\n        position: sticky;\n        top: 0;\n        left: 0;\n        padding: 0.5rem;\n        justify-content: space-around;\n        background: white;\n        transition: transform 0.5s ease, opacity 0.3s ease;\n        transform: translateY(-100%);\n        opacity: 0;\n        visibility: hidden;\n        z-index: 1000;\n    }\n\n    .rv-nav-chap .rv-nav-hed-wrap {\n        border-right: 1px dotted black;\n        position: relative;\n        font-size: 0.7rem;\n        padding: 0.7rem;\n        padding-top: 0;\n        display: inline-block;\n        height: 100%;\n    }\n\n    .rv-nav-chap .rv-nav-hed-wrap a {\n        white-space: normal;\n    }\n\n    .rv-nav-chap a::after {\n        content: attr(data-text);\n        font-weight: 800;\n        visibility: hidden;\n        height: 0;\n        display: block;\n        padding: 0 0.5rem;\n    }\n\n    .rv-nav-chap .rv-progress-bar {\n        margin-left:0.7rem;\n    }\n\n    \/* ***** *\/\n    \/* SCROLLY TIMELINE *\/\n    \/* ***** *\/\n    .rv-story-scroller .rv-story-container:last-of-type {\n\t\tmargin-bottom: 10vh;\n\t}\n\n    .rv-story-container {\n\t\tposition: relative;\n\t\tflex-direction: row;\n\t\tmargin-bottom: 10vh;\n\t\tgap: 2rem;\n\t}\n\n    .rv-story-sticky-figure {\n\t\tflex: 1;\n\t\tjustify-content: center;\n\t\tpadding: 0;\n\t\twidth: 100%;\n\t\theight: 100%;\n\t\tbackground: none;\n\t}\n\n\t.rv-story-sticky-figure img {\n\t\tmargin: 8rem auto 0rem auto;\n\t}\n\n\t.rv-story-sticky-figure .rv-scroll-hed {\n\t\tmargin-top: 5rem;\n\t}\n\n    .rv-story-content-wrapper {\n\t\tflex: 1;\n\t}\n\n\t.rv-story-content:first-child {\n\t\tmargin-top: 100vh;\n\t}\n\n\t.rv-story-content:last-child {\n\t\tmargin-bottom: 50vh;\n\t}\n\n    .rv-story-officialQuote {\n\t\tmax-width: 550px;\n\t}\n\n\t.rv-story-square {\n\t\tposition: absolute;\n\t\tbottom: 0;\n\t\talign-self: flex-end;\n\t\theight: 100vh;\n\t\tbackground: linear-gradient(to top, \n\t\t\trgba(255,255,255,1) 0%,\n\t\t\trgba(255,255,255,1) 70%, \n\t\t\trgba(255,255,255,0) 100%\n\t\t); \n\t}\n\n    \/* ***** *\/\n    \/* TRIPTYCH *\/\n    \/* ***** *\/\n\n    .rv-hero-chapter-triptych {\n        display: flex;\n        flex-direction: row; \n        gap: 2rem;\n        margin: 5rem auto;\n        width: 95vw;\n    }\n\n    .rv-hero-chapter-triptych img {\n        width: 100%;\n    }\n\n    .rv-hero-chapter-triptych .rv-triptych-1 {\n        flex: 1;\n        margin-top: 20vh;\n        align-self: center;\n    }\n\n    .rv-hero-chapter-triptych .rv-triptych-2 {\n        flex: 2;\n        align-self: flex-start;\n    }\n\n\n    \/* ***** *\/\n    \/* RECIRCULATE SIDEBAR *\/\n    \/* ***** *\/\n\n    .rv-recirculate {\n        float: right;\n        display: block;\n        width: 40%;\n        margin: 3rem 10rem 3rem 3rem;\n        padding: 2rem 0;\n        max-width: 300px;\n        border-top: 2px solid black;\n        border-bottom: 2px solid black;\n    }\n    \n    .rv-linksCollection {\n        display: block;\n    }\n\n    .rv-storyLink {\n        padding: 0.5rem;\n        margin-top: 0rem;\n        color: black;\n         text-decoration: none !important;\n    }\n\n    .rv-storyLink .rv-imgContainer {\n        max-width: 150px;\n    }\n\n    .rv-titleCollection {\n        padding-left: 0.5rem;\n        margin-bottom: 1.5rem;\n    }\n}\n\n@media screen and (min-width: 1500px) {\n    .rv-recirculate {\n        margin-right: 20rem;\n    }\n}\n\n<\/style>\n\n\n\n<script defer>\n\n\nconst chapters = [\n    { id: 'chapter-1', bar: 'progress-bar-1', nav: 'nav-chapter-1' },\n    { id: 'chapter-2', bar: 'progress-bar-2', nav: 'nav-chapter-2' },\n    { id: 'chapter-3', bar: 'progress-bar-3', nav: 'nav-chapter-3' },\n    { id: 'chapter-4', bar: 'progress-bar-4', nav: 'nav-chapter-4' },\n];\n\nfunction getActiveSection() {\n    let maxVisible = 0;\n    let activeIndex = -1;\n\n    chapters.forEach(({ id }, index) => {\n        const section = document.getElementById(id);\n        const rect = section.getBoundingClientRect();\n        const windowHeight = window.innerHeight;\n\n        let visibleHeight = Math.min(rect.bottom, windowHeight) - Math.max(rect.top, 0);\n        visibleHeight = Math.max(0, visibleHeight);\n\n        if (visibleHeight > maxVisible) {\n            maxVisible = visibleHeight;\n            activeIndex = index;\n        }\n    });\n\n    return activeIndex;\n}\n\nfunction updateProgressBars() {\n    const isMobile = window.matchMedia(\"(max-width: 849px)\").matches;\n    const activeIndex = getActiveSection();\n\n    chapters.forEach(({ id, bar, nav }, index) => {\n        const progressBar = document.getElementById(bar);\n        const navHead = document.getElementById(nav);\n        const link = navHead.querySelector('a');\n    \n        if (index === activeIndex) {\n            const section = document.getElementById(id);\n            const rect = section.getBoundingClientRect();\n            const sectionHeight = rect.height;\n            const scrollTop = Math.min(window.innerHeight, rect.bottom) - rect.top;\n            let scrollPercent;\n            if (isMobile) {\n                scrollPercent = Math.min((scrollTop \/ sectionHeight) * 95, 95);\n            } else {\n                scrollPercent = Math.min((scrollTop \/ sectionHeight) * 90, 90);\n            }\n            link.style.color = '#000000'\n            navHead.style.overflow = \"visible\";\n\n            progressBar.style.visibility = 'visible';\n            progressBar.style.width = scrollPercent + '%';\n            \n            if (isMobile) {\n                navHead.classList.add('active');\n                link.textContent = link.getAttribute('data-text');\n            } else {\n                navHead.classList.remove('active');\n                link.textContent = link.getAttribute('data-text');\n            }\n\n        } else {\n            link.style.color=\"#B3B3B3\"\n            navHead.style.overflow = \"hidden\";\n\n            progressBar.style.width = '0%';\n            progressBar.style.visibility = 'hidden';\n            if (isMobile) {\n                navHead.classList.remove('active');\n                const chapterNumber = id.split(\"-\")[1];\n                link.textContent = `Ch. ${index + 1}`;\n            } else {\n                navHead.classList.remove('active');\n                link.textContent = link.getAttribute('data-text');\n            }\n        }\n    });\n}\n\nfunction checkForStoryScroller() {\n    \/\/ const storyScroller = document.querySelector('.rv-story-scroller');\n    const firstHead = document.querySelector('#first-head');\n    const aside = document.querySelector('.rv-nav-chap');\n    const progressBars = document.querySelectorAll('.rv-progress-bar');\n\n    \/\/ if (!storyScroller || !firstHead) return;\n    if (!firstHead) return;\n\n    \/\/ const rect = storyScroller.getBoundingClientRect();\n    \/\/ const inView = (rect.top < window.innerHeight)\n    \/\/     ? 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(rectHead.bottom > 0 ? true : false)\n        : false;\n\n\n    \/\/ const shouldHide = inView || inView2;\n\n    if (inView2) {\n        aside.classList.remove('visible');\n        progressBars.forEach(bar => bar.style.visibility = 'hidden');\n        progressBars.forEach(bar => bar.style.backgroundColor = 'transparent');\n    } else {\n        aside.classList.add('visible');\n        progressBars.forEach(bar => bar.style.backgroundColor = '#636363');\n        progressBars.forEach(bar => bar.style.visibility = 'visible');\n    }\n}\n\nfunction moveHeader() {\n    if (document.body.classList.contains('postid-62055')) {\n        const rvTopHeader = document.querySelector('.rv-content-story');\n        const entryHeader = document.querySelector('body.postid-62055 .entry-header');\n      \n        if (rvTopHeader && entryHeader) {\n          rvTopHeader.insertAdjacentElement('beforebegin', entryHeader);\n          entryHeader.style.visibility = \"visible\";\n        }\n    }\n}\n\nlet currentWindowMode = null; \nfunction updateVideoSrc() {\n    const isMobile = window.matchMedia(\"(max-width: 849px)\").matches;\n    const video = document.getElementById(\"rv-heroVideoSelect\");\n\n    const mobileSrc = \"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/INTRO_BROLL_VERTICAL.mp4\";\n    const desktopSrc = \"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/INTROL_BROLL.mp4\";\n\n    const newMode = isMobile ? \"mobile\" : \"desktop\";\n    const newSrc = isMobile ? mobileSrc : desktopSrc;\n\n    if (newMode !== currentWindowMode) {\n        currentWindowMode = newMode;\n        video.src = newSrc;\n\n        video.setAttribute('autoplay', true);\n        video.setAttribute('muted', true);\n        video.setAttribute('playsinline', true);\n\n        if (isMobile) {\n            video.removeAttribute('controls'); \/\/ \u274c No controls on mobile\n        } else {\n            video.setAttribute('controls', true); \/\/ \u2705 Controls on desktop\n        }\n    }\n}\n\nfunction mobileUpdates () {\n   const isMobile = window.matchMedia(\"(max-width: 849px)\").matches;\n   const videos = document.querySelectorAll('video.rvcontrolsMobile');\n   const rvRecir = document.querySelector('.rv-recirculate')\n   if (isMobile) {\n       \/\/ removes controls on mobile video\n       videos.forEach(video => {\n           video.removeAttribute('controls');\n       });\n       \/\/ remove rv-recirculate in mobile\n       rvRecir.style.display = \"none\";\n   } else {\n       \/\/ add controls on desktop video\n       videos.forEach(video => {\n           video.setAttribute('controls', 'controls');\n       });\n       \/\/ add rv-recirculate in desktop\n       rvRecir.style.display = \"block\";\n   }\n}\n\n\n\n\/\/ Run once on load\ndocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", () => {\n    updateVideoSrc();\n    moveHeader();\n   mobileUpdates(); \n});\n\nwindow.addEventListener('scroll', () => {\n    checkForStoryScroller();\n    updateProgressBars();\n})\n\nlet resizeTimeout;\nwindow.addEventListener(\"resize\", () => {\n    clearTimeout(resizeTimeout);\n    resizeTimeout = setTimeout(() => {\n        updateVideoSrc();\n        updateProgressBars();\n        checkForStoryScroller();\n       mobileUpdates();\n    }, 150); \n});\n\n\n<\/script>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>San Francisco is using parking laws and construction projects to displace RV communities of working-class families. This investigation reveals how the crackdown began \u2014 and why it backfired.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88922,"featured_media":66565,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"single-wide.php","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"hidden","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"coauthors":[25479,25049],"class_list":["post-62055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>SF is weaponizing parking to dismantle RV communities. Here\u2019s how it started<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"San Francisco is using parking laws and construction projects to displace RV communities of working-class families. This investigation reveals how the crackdown began \u2014 and why it backfired.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/sf-rv-crackdown-weaponized-parking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SF is weaponizing parking to dismantle RV communities. Here\u2019s how it started\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"San Francisco is using parking laws and construction projects to displace RV communities of working-class families. This investigation reveals how the crackdown began \u2014 and why it backfired.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/en\/sf-rv-crackdown-weaponized-parking\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"El Tecolote\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ElTecoloteSF\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-12T05:56:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-10T23:26:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/eltecolote.org\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/mainstory-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Yesica Prado, Erika Carlos\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@eltecolotesf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@eltecolotesf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Yesica Prado, Erika Carlos\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"50 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eltecolote.org\\\/content\\\/en\\\/sf-rv-crackdown-weaponized-parking\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eltecolote.org\\\/content\\\/en\\\/sf-rv-crackdown-weaponized-parking\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Erika Carlos\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/eltecolote.org\\\/content\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/98e31c3dda2abc936b778a5b89858b5b\"},\"headline\":\"San Francisco is weaponizing parking rules to displace RV communities. 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