Fed up city tows dozens of new RVs abandoned by manufacturer

In the latest twist in the growing saga of abandoned RVs being taken over by the homeless, the city of Wildomar, California, has had enough. Acting decisively, city officials towed away dozens of RVs that a California RV manufacturer BlackSeries had left on a local lot. Despite receiving multiple warnings, the manufacturer refused to move the vehicles, pushing the city to act as concerns mounted over the RVs’ deteriorating condition and their effect on the surrounding community. The story of homeless individuals occupying abandoned RVs just keeps expanding.

Homeless take over RVs in City of Industry

The whole matter now resembles a gigantic ping-pong game. RVTravel.com first reported the story in late March. At that time, law enforcement responded to complaints and removed homeless people from dozens of BlackSeries travel trailers that someone had parked on a lot in the City of Industry, California. Local residents reported mounds of garbage and accused occupants of theft.

Why were the new travel trailers parked there? The RV manufacturer, BlackSeries Campers, Inc., was just down the road 24 miles in Upland, California. BlackSeries didn’t own the lot and, according to news reports, hadn’t paid its rent in more than two years. Reports suggest that some of the homeless “residents” of the rigs claim they were paying BlackSeries RV owners rent to live in the rigs—a claim the company denies.

In any event, authorities evicted the trailer squatters, and to the relief of City of Industry residents and businesses, someone removed the trailers. But to where?

Small town with a seemingly big problem

It didn’t take long for the BlackSeries issue to come back up in the news. Nearly two hours away by road, south and east of the City of Industry lies Wildomar, California. On the scale of Southern California cities, Wildomar is pretty small, with fewer than 40,000 folks calling it home. While Wildomar may be small, its residents are vocal. You guessed it—they weren’t too happy when the parade of thrashed BlackSeries trailers turned up on a business lot on Palomar Street—a thoroughfare through the center of town.

While there aren’t any reports that squatters had moved into the relocated RVs, locals were nonetheless concerned. They said that after the rigs showed up, they saw an increase in “transients” in the area, incidents of property damage, illegal parking, and “stolen RVs.” Real or imagined, the community clamored for their local government to do something. Wildomar officials determined that the RVs were stored unlawfully, and warned BlackSeries RV manufacturing that the rigs from the “homeless take over RVs” story had to go.

But they didn’t go.

Wildomar calls in the cavalry—and they look like tow trucks

So Wildomar officials took their case to court and got a judge’s order to clear the lot. When the appointed day came, April 25, a squad of tow trucks came to the site. Under the watchful eyes of law enforcement and code enforcement officers, the rigs were towed away, much to the elation of some locals.

But where did the fleet of unwelcome RVs go? A few days prior to the clear-out, BlackSeries RV CEO Jack Hongwei Qiu told reporters from local TV Eyewitness News that he moved some of the RVs to a property in San Bernardino County. “Qui said he’s waiting to see what the cost will be to recover the ones the city towed,” said the news report.

So, someone hauled some of the rigs back to San Bernardino County. But what happened to the rest? A towing company, Rivera Towing, won the contract to remove the remaining units. The company transported the rigs just a few minutes away to another California community, Lake Elsinore. Observers presume Rivera will store the rigs at its company lot, although aerial views of the reported business address showed that the yard outside the office was already packed with cars.

How much will the tow bill cost BlackSeries?

As to BlackSeries’ Qiu’s wondering how much it will cost to recover the rigs towed away? Wildomar’s Code Enforcement department says the tow company is charging the owner $900 each for towing and $100 a day per RV for storage. Locally developed reports suggest that upwards of 70 trailers were to be towed. Rivera Towing’s bill simply for the hook-and-pull would amount to $63,000 alone. If all those rigs got stuck in the impound yard for a month, Qui could be on the hook for another $200,000-plus.

It could be that Jack Hongwei Qiu has another variable to throw into the equation of the “homeless take over RVs” story. Qiu and another representative were at the site the day the tow trucks came. They were documenting damage made to the units by the tow company. Qiu said he would be looking for an attorney.

Rivera Towing had their hands full. The city gave the company until 6:00 p.m. to get all the rigs off the lot. The tow trucks grabbed and ran—next door to a privately held lot—where they off-loaded the rigs and staged them for the tug to Lake Elsinore. At 6:00, five trailers were still in the original Wildomar lot, and law enforcement waved the tow company away.

How do Lake Elsinore residents feel about all of this?

From the factory to the City of Industry. From there to Wildomar. And after a brief respite there, the unwelcome BlackSeries trailers have now been bounced down the road to Lake Elsinore. We reached out to Lake Elsinore’s city manager to see if he knew how that community’s residents felt about becoming an RV dumping ground. So far, City Manager Jason Simpson hasn’t responded to our request.

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