Redding, CA - Most Nomad and Homeless Unfriendly Town in America?

[AreWeLostYet]

Staying around Redding CA. In a business the radio was on and there was a spot about all the problems from the homeless in the area. Urged scooping them all up into rehab centers and then on to ... they didn't say. They had a Habitat for Humanity store - no more. And I have seen HFH stores in every podunk store all over the country. None within 100 miles. Homeless are everywhere, but no homeless camps visible. They're just walking around like the Walking Dead. Youtube is full of videos of homeless tents being disassembled by police. Probably one of the most redneck towns in CA with a preponderance of churches, Christian private schools. Could walk around for days not seeing an African American. Fewer Latinos that most CA towns it's size. 

I don't mean to slime the typical Redding native. The most redneck element is probably those migrating there from LA, SF, SD to escape from and raise their kids away from the realities of American urban life. And there's a nativist movement seeking to separate from southern CAlifornia and form their own state of "Jefferson". The flag is two black Xs on a yellow background.

I haven't even tried to look for boondocking opportunities near Redding. Saw a few roads in FS lands to thenorth with signs with a tent symbol overlaid with the slanted line (means no camping). Hope that California isn't a harbinger for the rest of the country with regards to dispersed camping/boondocking.

 

[highdesertranger]

I already deleted one post. I am leaving the thread up for the time being against my better judgment. this could get political real easy so watch what you post. highdesertranger

 

[lenny flank]

Every time we read about anti-parking or anti-sleeping laws, they ALWAYS make the reasons for it excruciatingly clear, and it's ALWAYS the same everywhere: people who stay in the same place forever, dump their shit (literally) in the street, and make a mess of everything.

Though it is just a small proportion of vehicle-dwellers who act like asses, we ALL pay the price for it.

 

[AreWeLostYet]

I already deleted one post.  I am leaving the thread up for the time being against my better judgment.  this could get political real easy so watch what you post.  highdesertranger

What is this, Romper Room? We're adults here - I think. These forums are for more than "how to" stuff. There's a philosophical statement. I'm airing mine. There are forces exerted by government that have drastic - perhaps disastrous effect upon the full time RVing community. Are you expecting us to just sit silently by and gurgle as we go under? I'm talking while I have a voice.

My god if I wanted to get "political" - everyone would know it.

 

[John61CT]

There is no right to free speech here, we are guests of the owner and mods need to enforce the rules.

If you want to discuss those issues, best to do so via PM.

 

[MrNoodly]

If you think Redding is hostile, AreWeLostYet, I guess you haven't tried staying in some of the Southern California beach cities.

A couple of years ago, on different occasions, I overnighted at the Walmart in Redding with no problems.

 

[AreWeLostYet]

Certainly Orange County - close to the beach has to be the most difficult places to try and stealth park. But then, it's the beach. Everyone would be living at the beach if they could get away with it. Saw a recent video by Carolyn on N Cal coast looking and looking for a place to park near the beach. Thought she'd found a place then got "the knock" from the fuzz.

I was talking about a town near camping areas, national forests etc with lots of legal camping. And i really heard a spot on the local radio station that talking about the area's local homeless like they were invading terrorists. It's along the I5 and just south of the Oregon border. Lots of people kicked out of every place in Oregon might be ending up there. Weather's warmer (sometimes blazing hot) than anywhere in Oregon. Lots of parks, many on the banks of the beautiful Sacramento River before it gets trashed downstream. So it's natural unanchored people would find it appealing. I know I do. But I'm making use of the fee camp grounds that are plentiful around Shasta Lake, Lassen and the mountains towards the coast (Eureka).

 

[John61CT]

As more "mobile dwellers" get out there, more jurisdictions will ban us. Then effectively enforce the bans.

The nicer (wealthier) communities leading the way.

Best we can hope is there will be some remote locations where they let us stay, like the original residents here.

 

[DLTooley]

We're seeing a lot of this sort of concern in Colorado, frequently it's private land owners who want sole access to adjoining public lands.  Here's a very well organized effort in the Boulder area.
The stated goals are good, and we should work to support those while also standing up to abuses.

 

[Deb_A]

Florida is horrid, but I understand why. With all the RVer snowbirds flocking down here every winter, they would overrun any free site available, and they usually leave a mess. There are very few WalMarts where you can overnight in an RV. You can get away with a minivan or car/SUV is you come in late and park out where the employees park in some places, but the cops even roust vans they can't see into, so you have to be careful. If you have a curtain between the front and back, they'll come knocking. 

Even the National Forests down here are restricted now, due to problem with people trashing them. Almost all free land down here requires a permit, and they do ride through every day to check permits. Forget beach parking! There is limited parking on some rivers and creeks near beaches in the panhandle, but nothing anywhere else.

 

[rvwandering]

I've deleted most of the posts dealing with politics. Discuss the issue but please leave politics out of it. Maybe take your complaints to the local officials because there isn't anything we can do about it here and bringing politics into it will just start arguments.

 It's important for everyone to know about the issues and problems so discussing is encouraged.

 

[frater secessus]

What is this, Romper Room? We're adults here - I think. These forums are for more than "how to" stuff. There's a philosophical statement. I'm airing mine.

I'd recommend starting a blog if one wants to air it out full-throatedly.

 

[Bud Smiley]

I can't imagine trying to vandwell in Redding during the summer. That is a hot area. You'd better find some shade.

I've boondocked in the mountains to the north of Redding several times. I was pretty far out on some forest roads but I spent several nights out there without hassle. I encountered one ranger and just got a friendly wave. This was about ten years ago but I can't imagine those hills have gotten much more crowded.

 

[AreWeLostYet]

Just look at last year's and this year's RTR. Something like 5 times as large in one year. Not that RTR attendance is a reliable barometer of nomadic live. But the huge, huge increase in just one year is a significant event along the timeline of mobile living. I could cite the present political climate/leadership, but that would be "political" so I'll just let us wait and see how much more confidence Americans come to have in remaining tethered to the mainstream economy.

There are some truly dedicated, longtime people among the 'boots on the ground' rangers in the federal and state agencies. But those at the top make the rules and make it difficult for those in the field to perform as they have and would prefer to continue.

 

[sephson]

I can't speak for Redding, having only stayed a night there maybe ten years ago, however Orange County, where I live and work is down right hostile to vehicle dwellers. A significant portion of the hostility is a direct result of a small minority of vehicle dwellers making jackasses of themselves and essentially squatting in one spot for extended periods of time. Over the last several weeks on my commute to work, I've driven by the same run down Class A every day parked in a shopping center, in the same two parking spaces in a relatively prosperous part of South Orange County. It's only a matter of time before the owners of the shopping center ban RV parking entirely because of this one RVer. Out in front of my place of employment, a Toyota Dolphin, again run down and clearly not in the best of shape, has been parked in the same parking space for two weeks in an upscale beach community. How long will it be before the actions of this one RVer cause the local authorities to come down hard on all vehicle dwellers?

I know the vast majority on this site are much better behaved than these two. One thing we all must remember, whether a part time road tripper like me, or a full timer like many of you, wherever we park, we are guests in whatever local we happen to stop in, not residents. We must be good guests if we wish to be welcomed back to any community that we stop in. Yes, local ordinances against vehicle dwelling are in many ways an attack on your right to live the life that you want, but the residents and business owners of these communities have rights too. We should try to respect those rights.

 

[John61CT]

The only rights citizens **actually** have, are those enshrined in law **and actively enforced** by those with real power, as in legal use of force.

Fighting for "rights" we don't actually yet have is a long and difficult battle taking thousands if not millions of activists working consistently over many years.

This forum is not the place for contributing to such efforts, unless our host the site owners decides to make it so.

What any individual member thinks about that last situation is irrelevant, either fit into our community's rules and mores, make your practical contributions so valuable that TPTB let you bend them, or go somewhere else.

 

[cyndi]

I've also deleted a number of posts.

 

[Txjaybird]

AreWeLostYet

I am curious about your definition of a "Red Neck".
It doesn't sound like they are people a person would want to know.
Are they all alike?

Jewellann

 

[AreWeLostYet]

No one is like anybody else.

Some places "redneck" is a compliment. Overall, in California it is not. That's why I highlighted the word in relation to California. Redding resembles lots of towns in the southeast bible-belt in many ways. Of course it's a former agricultural area at the top of the Central Valley where lots of dirt farmers migrated to from the southern midwest during the "Great" Depression. They brought their attitudes - for better or worse, with them.

 

[DLTooley]

NE California is the poorest part of the State.