By Chuck Woodbury
Watch the video below at the bottom of this article. It might make your blood boil! It did mine!
First, let me say something so you know where I’m coming from. I live in a middle-class neighborhood. Everybody keeps their homes up nicely with lawns weeded and mowed. I have never seen a neighbor repair a transmission in his driveway.
So how would I feel if somebody dropped off a junker motorhome that won’t even operate by the curb right in front my house? I’d be mad as a wet hen! In the case shown in the video below, nobody appeared to live in it. But I know in similar situations that an RV has, indeed, been occupied, sometimes by different people—one group at night, one during the day.
But, regardless, I’d call the police and expect that it would be removed immediately, or at least after a few days. But what if I got the runaround, and the RV remained there—one giant eyesore—for weeks, even months on end—in this case six months?
Whose responsibility is this?
Isn’t this the responsibility of local law enforcement? Or am I supposed to hire a towing service myself and then have it hauled to some place (wherever that may be!)? How much would that cost? Should I be required to foot the bill?
This case has a strange ending, which you will see if you watch the video. The RV finally gets hauled, but only because of a crime committed against it that is so offensive that the city finally had to act and tow the junk heap somewhere else.
As I look out my front window now I see a nice, tidy neighborhood. It’s hard to imagine seeing a beat-up old RV parked there for months on end. And yet it could very well happen to me, just as it did to the person you will meet in this video.
This makes my blood boil!
*Please note this video is a couple of years old, but similar situations are still happening every day (and maybe getting worse).
##RVT1172
Hmmm I see from the license plate that it is from California need I say more.
I’m from Sioux Falls South Dakota if there was/is an abandoned car, motorhome or any kind of motorized abandoned vehicle on the streets it would be towed (by the city) within 48 hours.
Perhaps the painful messages was used to get officials interested in removing this eyesore from the neighborhood. Otherwise, it would still be there. With the VIN number, actual legal ownership could be found.
Yep. Someone in the neighborhood thought up an ingenious way to get local “leaders” interested. What was put on the RV concerns many city officials more nowadays than helping the tax paying honest citizen. If the city would have towed it promptly the “paint job” never would have happened and everyone would have been much happier. By not taking prompt action to investigate, tow, and impound, the situation just got worse.
So the LAPD is investigating a “hate crime” and vandalism. That is not the problem. that is not the issue. Has everyone gone brain dead? Removing the RV is the problem. Removing the RV is the issue.
We drove up the 101 in the Pacific Northwest this past spring and were unable to enjoy most of the vistas as they had become RV encampments. At a rest stop, we were greeted by the parking lot squatters who were aggressively panhandling and people bathed at the sinks.
And the state employees were powerless to intervene.
There are many communities in California slowly displacing those that care with those that don’t. Apathy is as contagious as indifference but few know which spreads fastest. It’s sad really.
TLDR: Better locks make better thieves, they don’t eliminate them.
I am thankful that there is no ordinance against parking a licensed vehicle overnight at the curb. We are able to keep our 2022 21′ TT at our house where I can transfer items before/after travel, perform routine maintenance, use our AC to keep the battery charged, etc. But it is a two-edged sword. Our neighbor is self-employed as an excavation service. While he has an equipment lot, he often parks his trailered equipment overnight at his curb to facilitate an early start the next work day. He looks with pride at his mud-covered trencher and I at my waxed TT. I am sure some neighbors would prefer neither was there.
Our Township does not allow any RV or trailer of any type, even construction trailers, to be parked on the street overnight. They will be cited for each day it remains on the street. After 7 days it will be towed at the owners expense and major fines incurred.
Chuck: I have lived on the Left Coast for 32 years, in a city quite similar to your Seattle area. Here policy regarding issues like homelessness, crime, drugs, etc are beyond any reasonable measure, insanity at best. The rights of the bottom 5%, who create 95% of the crime are much stronger than for law-abiding citizens – in effect the bottom 5% run city hall. The Police force is demonized while the crime proliferates on an epic scale. City leadership does nothing more than lip service to all of these issues. Our downtown is being gutted because all of these rampant issues. The authorities enact huge homeless taxes on the rich to fund policies and programs which are anti-productive.
Any abandoned vehicle should be towed within seven (7) to fourteen (14) working days and that is generally the law in most urban areas. Enforcement is the problem.
That’s an easy one. If registration is expired 6 months or more, Ca. vehicle code says it is to be towed off the street. LAPD just being LAPD.
No video, no link to a video. ? ? Using my laptop, not a phone.
Hi, Linda. Yes, there’s a link to the video news story from a couple of years ago in the post. Maybe the URL is blocked on your laptop for some reason? (I tried to link it here, but it didn’t work.) I haven’t seen that anyone else had an issue with the link. Sorry. But you’re not missing much. It just says the RV had been there for a long time until someone spray painted it, then it was removed. Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
My applause to the neighbor(s) that got creative enough to spray paint some words of hate on this eyesore, which immediately got it the attention it deserved 6 months sooner.
My question is which words of hate got it towed? The Tr__p 2024 on the windshield or the swastikas on the sides? It is a California suburb so I’m thinking it was the Tr__mp 2024 on the windshield because while the swastikas are bad and antisemitism is now so popular on the left again, the word Tr__p anything is just bridge too far in California.
I believe in most jurisdictions if it has a valid registration and inspection it can be parked on a public street. Once it expires the local police should be involved
Who woulda thought the homeless and all the problems that go along with them would ever turn into such big business in California?
I paid over $7K for a warranty. It was a waste of my money. Maybe I was caught up in the moment as to why I thought that just because of making the choice that we were not going to sit on a lot that we purchased in the Palm Springs area we decided with 8 wheels under us and so many places to go to and that we possibly would be on the road for 4 months maybe 5 I thought it would be best. We did whatever was needed doing it was done. The required maintenance completed. Oh well.
Thank you, Chuck! 🙂 We live in the country on a two-lane road, not in a neighborghood on a street. However, your point remains. If a similarly large, or any size really, RV were abandoned on the road, then we’d call the county. Likely, they’d have it removed within a day or two, given the hazard it would present. Alternately, given the width of the entrance to our driveway, it is possible that an RV could be abandoned there. In that case, no real idea. Perhaps the county would haul it away, not sure. Otherwise, I guess it would be on our dime. Thanks again, have a great week, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
Neighbors did what it took to get someone’s attention! Shame that it had to come to this. Everyone turned off their ring and other cameras that night. At least that is what I would do.