Suit Targets Restrictions on RV Parking

Homeless advocates sued the city of Santa Barbara on Thursday, alleging that a new law restricting the parking of recreational vehicles on city streets is unconstitutional.

Hours after filing the suit in Santa Barbara Superior Court, more than two dozen recreational vehicle residents and their attorneys gathered in front of City Hall to denounce the law.

“The law will effectively drive out the city’s poorest of [the] poor,” said Peter Marin, a social activist and chairman of the Committee for Social Justice.

“In effect, it amounts to a war of rich against poor,” Marin said.

The law prohibits recreational vehicles from being parked on city streets for more than two hours, except between 2 and 6 a.m., when parking is totally banned.

Advocates claim that more than 50 parking citations, each carrying a $23 fine, have been issued since the law took effect Wednesday.

Filed on behalf of Homes on Wheels, a local advocacy group, and three individual plaintiffs, the suit challenges the constitutionality of the law and questions the legality of an ordinance that is not posted and bans only certain types of vehicles.

The city has 30 days to respond, but City Atty. Daniel Wallace said Thursday the lawsuit lacks merit. “We feel the city has the authority to enforce the ordinance,” he said. “It’s not unconstitutional. We essentially disagree about the legal merits of the case.”

Attorney Glen Mowrer, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of a handful of RV residents, said the law targets the poor.

“About 400 families live in RVs in the Santa Barbara area -- they have no place to go,” he said. “This law applies throughout the city, but it will probably only affect people who live in their vehicles.”

On the steps of City Hall, those who live in recreational vehicles explained why they believe the law is unjust.

Nancy McCradie, who holds two jobs and heads the Homeless on Wheels project, said she wound up in an RV after leaving an abusive husband more than 20 years ago.

“I live a very, very good life,” she said. “It’s better than living in an apartment with a ton of cockroaches.”

Linda Hernandez, a mother on disability, said she cannot afford to rent an apartment but does not want to leave Santa Barbara and take her children out of school. Hernandez said she received her first ticket in five years Thursday morning.

“We have a home -- it’s on wheels, but it’s a home,” she said. “I’m trying to keep my family stable.... We’re trying to make a home here. I’m not running.”