San Diego crackdown on vehicle habitation

[USExplorer]

OK, a little more details. It was just after first light, two young cops rolled on down the street, picking out any vehicle that kind of looks like there is someone sleeping inside. san diego cops, they are good at spotting, and a strung-up shirt between my two front seats (plus my NC license plate) was a dead giveaway for them. they peeked in my half-open window, ascertained that I was sleeping inside (I woke up about this time), wrote a ticket, put it on the windshield. then the cop rapped on the window, called out "hey buddy, you can't sleep in your vehicle here, its a parking violation." he then walked on to the next van a few cars up and repeated the same procedure.

One of the other vandwellers told me it doesn't really matter if you part on a secluded back street, they're gonna find you and get you eventually.

I drive a Ford Explorer by the way.

 

[Alcatraz]

The sneaky cops will chalk an " X" on your tires or say they did in court. They use that for a time reference on how long you were parked in the same spot
No way around that, especially if you didn't know. The judges always side with them.
Always check your vehicle for a chalked "x" on the tires when stealth camping. If you find one erase it and move on, before you get busted.
Window condensation is also a giveaway that someone is sleeping inside.

 

[Alcatraz]

At 1:59 am parked in front of the house that called, start your rig and rev the hell out of it to warm it up, maybe make the car run a litte rich to cause some backfires, loosen the alternator belt so it screeches, then drive around the block for four hours every day between 2am and 6am just to piss off the person that called.  Soon as the clock hit 6am, park right smack in front of their house. Rinse and Repeat.  

I actually wouldn't do this because it wouldn't do anything positive for the van dweller's image, but it is fun to think about to release a little pent up anger.

All it takes is some a$$hole dumping his black tank to wreck it for everyone.  Most of these laws are a response to a real problem.


You might be able to get away with that once.  More than once you will get nabbed.  After 9/11 and internet stalking there are a lot of new tools in an enterprising DA's toolbox to cause you a lot of grief.  And security cameras are cheap.  Not many things would get the 'No Overnight Parking' signs to go up faster.

 -- Spiff

Don't do that. That is way the laws were put in place. That is why a lot of Walmart's do not allow overnight parking anymore.
One person or group ruining it  for everyone.

 

[frater secessus]

It's ONE of the reasons the laws were put in place, or at least the stated reason.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

San Diego isn't just against van dwellers, they're even attacking their own. A good friend of mine lives in Pacific Beach and rents out her house on Air B&B. (She has a two family of sorts) A lot of local residents want people doing this to be banned as well. Protecting their paradise knows no bounds.

 

[Vagabound]

All it takes is some a$$hole dumping his black tank to wreck it for everyone.  Most of these laws are a response to a real problem.


You might be able to get away with that once.  More than once you will get nabbed.  After 9/11 and internet stalking there are a lot of new tools in an enterprising DA's toolbox to cause you a lot of grief.  And security cameras are cheap.  Not many things would get the 'No Overnight Parking' signs to go up faster.

 -- Spiff

Spoil sport!

Tom

 

[USExplorer]

According to a strict interpretation of the laws, it is illegal for me to even bring my vehicle within the city limits of San Diego at any time, seeing as I use it as a temporary habitation. It does not matter what street I am parked on, or how long I've been parked, whether or not someone called in a complaint, or whether or not there are curtains in the windows.

The defense I will try to use is that obeying the sleeping law and driving out of the city would be a greater hazard than breaking it, due to drinking over the previous evening and my fatigued condition. There is a legal phrase for that, but it escapes me at this time.

 

[SternWake]

 A lot of local residents want people doing this to be banned as well.  Protecting their paradise knows no bounds.

People who live/ own homes  in vacation destinations will certainly not be fond of the home next to them being rented out.

The dead end single lane street where I park is a very tight community which is Extremely rare in Southern California where people seem to prefer to pretend no one else exists.  One newer homeowner on the street is wanting to do the AirB&B thing, and none of the other families on this street want a bunch of strangers on the street rotating in and out, treating this street, that has very limited parking, as a hotel parking lot, or having an influx of strangers turning it into a party house, Which is all too common of houses on Airb&B in vacation destinations.

Vacation rentals are a hot button topic here and no way would the neighbors here on this street would tolerate an unknown van parked on the very few places streetside where it is possible to do so.

 

[TMG51]

The defense I will try to use is that obeying the sleeping law and driving out of the city would be a greater hazard than breaking it, due to drinking over the previous evening and my fatigued condition. There is a legal phrase for that, but it escapes me at this time.

Sounds like you may be asking to have a DUI added to your simple fine.

 

[USExplorer]

Sounds like you may be asking to have a DUI added to your simple fine.

Yes, I will have to be very careful in the wording. Maybe just stick with fatigue.

 

[jonsun]

so lets sum this up....they dont want us to live on our own property and they dont want us visiting their neighborhood.

 

[Every Road Leads Home]

People who live/ own homes  in vacation destinations will certainly not be fond of the home next to them being rented out.

I actually don't have an opinion on people doing this one way or another. It wouldn't bother me if my neighbor was doing it, but then again, nothing really bothers me.  I'm more of a live and let live personality.    I have a free driveway I can use in PB whenever I want so I can't complain.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

There is a legal phrase for that, but it escapes me at this time.

Doctrine of Competing Harms.  I heard about it in my self defense training.

You're not supposed to shoot people, but if you shoot someone trying to set an occupied building on fire, it's ok because you were preventing a greater harm.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

It's ONE of the reasons the laws were put in place, or at least the stated reason.

You may be right.  There are some stories going around the RV world that SOME of the bans on parking overnight at the local Walmart were instigated by local campground owners.

 

[hepcat]

The politics in the beach communities of La Jolla, PB, and OB are complex and there are many competing perspectives. The main problem is private ownership of property that adjoins Coastal Commission controlled public lands. Wealthy folks want to live on the water, and spend several million dollars for a postage stamp sized piece of sand upon which to build their multi-million dollar castles. They pay HUGE property tax dollars, and in return expect a nice, quiet, idyllic place to live out their days at the shore, while their big bucks property taxes provide safe, maintained streets for easy ingress and egress, and the public peace so they can be happy ever after.

In the meantime, the unwashed masses from El Cajon and Mira Mesa and Santee all want to visit THEIR public ocean-front to party, surf, and generally have a good time. So, the very wealthy end up living in the most expensive ghetto in the country. Where else can you spend millions on a house and wake up to a drunk puking on your doorstep? Or a bunch of uncouth, uncivilized people of the unwashed masses living in their vehicles, parked on YOUR street in front of YOUR house?

So, as is the way of the world, the wealthy (who pay those huge property taxes and contribute huge sums to political campaigns) call their favorite campaign donee on the City Council to complain and the City responds by passing an innocuous parking ordinance that doesn't interfere with the unwashed masses' ability to visit the beach, just their ability to "inhabit" their vehicles at the beach overnight.

And there, my friends, you have San Diego Beachfront Politics in a nutshell.

 

[Txjaybird]

called out "hey buddy, you can't sleep in your vehicle here, its a parking violation."

he then walked on to the next van a few cars up and repeated the same procedure.

I WONDER WHY THEY WALKED PAST CARS TO GET TO A VAN?  

KINDA MAKES ME THINK CERTAIN TYPES OF VEHICLES WERE BEING SINGLED OUT?

JEWELLANN

 

[Vagabound]

I WONDER WHY THEY WALKED PAST CARS TO GET TO A VAN?  

KINDA MAKES ME THINK CERTAIN TYPES OF VEHICLES WERE BEING SINGLED OUT?

JEWELLANN

I'm sure that they were. It's called profiling. It both makes a lot of sense practically and is illegal in a lot of places. Imagine the irony.

Despite the rules against it in some places, why does it make sense? Because if you're on the lookout for Islamic terrorists, just for example, it doesn't make a lot of sense to spend equal time interrogating Eskimos and South American midgets.

We all profile constantly all day long just to get through our lives. Just think of it. When you're looking for your car keys, do you equally walk up to all other possessions and pick them, like your tennis shoes, and say, "Are you my car keys?" No you don't. And there's a really good reason that you don't.

Before people jump in and say this, I just want to say that I do fully realize there's another side to this. However, what I just mentioned above is hardly ever said and should be talked about ... in places where that can be talked about. ;-)

Tom

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

I WONDER WHY THEY WALKED PAST CARS TO GET TO A VAN?  

KINDA MAKES ME THINK CERTAIN TYPES OF VEHICLES WERE BEING SINGLED OUT?

JEWELLANN

Just a glance, even for an inexperienced cop, can tell if someone is sleeping in a car; a van, not so much.  For an experience cop, especially one who has had to enforce these regulations for a while, they would be very good at spotting potential sleepers.  And banging on an unoccupied vehicle would cause no harm or embarrassment.

 -- Spiff

 

[ZoNiE]

Park on Narragansett, between Cable and Bacon. You probably won't even be noticed...

 

[VanForNow]

There are two Indian casinos, Sycuan & Viejas, located about a 45 minute drive from SD, which allow overnight parking. When I was in the area about 2 wks ago, I stayed at Sycuan and made day trips into SD. For more than 1 night, special permission is required at Sycuan (easy to get.) I believe Viejas allows multi-night stays, but check to confirm.