RV Dwellers Get Reprieve Along San Francisco Street As Homeowners Fume
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) -- A victory for RV dwellers in a San Francisco neighborhood is not sitting well for nearby homeowners who think the city has handed them a raw deal.
The San Francisco Metropolitan Transportation Agency earlier this month declined to ban overnight RV parking on De Wolf St. - a one block-long street between Alemany Blvd. and Interstate 280 situated under the BART tracks and which runs behind a number of duplex homes.
"Will see that there is already trash dumping going on … mattresses, crap … there's all kinds of extra furniture out on the street. "It's just horrible," said neighbor Barbara Fugate. "There's also a lot of food dumped, so we get rats."
It's a problem that the residents of this working class neighborhood in the Outer Mission will likely have to live with for some time, because while there are 61 overnight parking bans already in the city, the SFMTA has put the brakes on issuing any more.
SFMTA Director Gwyneth Borden says the city needs to come up with designated parking places - like church parking lots - for the RVs.
"The bottom line is every time we pass one of these bans, then the traffic just moves to another street," said Borden.
But after three years of talking, Borden says no one over at City Hall has made a move.
Is it fair to the residents? "No. I mean, that's why the elected officials - they make the big bucks - need to come up with solutions," said Borden. "Do we want people in their cars or do we want them laying in front of your doorstep?"
San Francisco Supervisor Asha Safai represents the area, says he can make suggestions, but that it's up to the SFMTA to decide where RVs can and cannot park - and that they have turned a deaf ear to the residents.
Do you think this would be happening in if it were in Pacific Heights or Nob Hill? "Absolutely not," said Safai. "There is no way an entire block in Pacific Heights would be taken up with RVs. It would not happen."
Borden disputed that assertion. "I have the same position no matter what neighborhood," she said.
"We don't get the attention from City Hall that other parts of the city get, for sure," said Fugate. "But also we don't scream very loud. We need to scream louder, I think."
It's an issue that will continue to demand attention. While the city continues to grapple with homelessness and RVs citywide, it's the locals that are feeling the brunt of the problem.
