{"id":123030,"date":"2026-01-07T03:13:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-07T03:13:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/123030\/"},"modified":"2026-01-07T03:13:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T03:13:09","slug":"city-defends-crackdown-on-rv-dwellers-in-mission-bay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/123030\/","title":{"rendered":"City Defends Crackdown on RV Dwellers in Mission Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"

After\u00a0vehicle dwellers\u00a0filed a legal motion against the city<\/a>\u00a0saying\u00a0it\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0doing enough to ensure safe parking is available,\u00a0even while it tickets and forces them to move, the city\u00a0clapped\u00a0back.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a legal filing<\/a>\u00a0Nov. 25,\u00a0city attorneys argued\u00a0the\u00a0city\u2019s\u00a0safe parking is \u201creasonably available\u201d to individuals living in their vehicles.\u00a0They are accusing the attorneys\u00a0representing\u00a0vehicle dwellers\u00a0of\u00a0going back on their original request for safe\u00a0parking.\u00a0They also\u00a0accused the\u00a0attorneys\u00a0of\u00a0giving\u00a0people form\u00a0letters\u00a0to\u00a0try to help them avoid\u00a0tickets.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s legal response highlights just how much enforcement\u00a0efforts\u00a0it deployed. Between July and September, city employees issued more than 1,000 citations and referred 245 people to H Barracks.\u00a0Only 59 of those went to the safe parking lot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plaintiffs wanted to stop the\u00a0crackdown\u00a0and they referenced a legal settlement they said the city broke.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2024,\u00a0the city reached a settlement\u00a0after\u00a0a group of homeless people sued\u00a0in 2017\u00a0when the city\u00a0made\u00a0it illegal to live in\u00a0vehicles and RVs.\u00a0The city\u00a0agreed to no longer hand out tickets unless\u00a0it\u00a0could provide an immediate spot in a safe parking lot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The opening of a safe parking lot near the airport in May, H Barracks, allowed\u00a0the city to start handing out tickets again<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But in early November, plaintiffs of the settlement said the safe parking lot\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0\u201creasonably available.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now a judge\u00a0will\u00a0determine\u00a0if the city is\u00a0complying\u00a0with\u00a0the settlement. The judge could\u00a0rule that\u00a0the city is doing everything\u00a0right or\u00a0issue a hearing for oral arguments on whether the city is upholding the terms of the settlement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

H Barracks, a safe parking site near the airport,\u00a0is open from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. and requires people to leave each morning. Some people\u00a0said\u00a0they struggle to pay for gas and\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0move in and out\u00a0of the lot each day. Others said they have disabilities,\u00a0which can make it difficult to pack up their cars.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0also drowning in tickets that\u00a0cost up to $173.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

Plaintiffs claimed that because of these hurdles, the safe parking is not easily accessible. They filed a legal motion on Nov. 3\u00a0to compel the city to\u00a0comply with\u00a0the settlement terms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

City\u00a0lawyers wrote that officials\u00a0are complying, according to an opposition brief filed on Nov. 25.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They\u00a0also alleged that at the end of August, Ann\u00a0Menasche, the lead attorney on the settlement, handed\u00a0out letters\u00a0to plaintiffs to\u00a0exempt them from tickets.\u00a0In the letter, plaintiffs are instructed\u00a0to\u00a0indicate\u00a0why the safe parking lot was not \u201creasonably available\u201d\u00a0to\u00a0them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city said\u00a0the\u00a0letters cannot be used\u00a0to get out of tickets\u00a0and\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0part of\u00a0the settlement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0city shared a screenshot of one of these letters\u00a0in the brief\u00a0where an individual\u00a0indicated\u00a0why\u00a0the safe parking\u00a0was\u00a0not \u201creasonably available\u201d to them.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

An X was crossed by the following statement: \u201cI\/we can\u2019t afford the cost of gas and wear and tear on my\/our oversized vehicle driving back and forth daily to the H Barracks lot.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to the brief, the individual was living in their oversized vehicle on Fiesta Island in Mission Bay. The city determined the move from that location to H Barracks\u00a0was not too much to ask.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLess than 6 miles is a very reasonable commute for an individual,\u201d\u00a0said\u00a0the brief.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The brief also said\u00a0the attorneys and plaintiffs went back on their original request for safe parking.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The brief said in\u00a0an \u201cambush meeting\u201d on Sep. 12 with the\u00a0city,\u00a0the attorneys\u00a0for RV dwellers\u00a0argued the settlement agreement required the city to provide more 24-hour safe parking sites. However, the city says the attorneys\u2019\u00a0initial\u00a0position was different \u2013 they wanted the city to \u201cfight to open\u201d safe parking near Mission Bay.\u202f\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a complete reversal of Plaintiffs\u2019 prior position,\u201d said the brief.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city also\u00a0argued that\u00a0disability\u00a0accommodations\u00a0do\u00a0not require them to open 24-hour lots or give people living in their vehicles a free pass to park in the streets.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But the RV dwellers continue to disagree.\u00a0They pushed back with a response to the opposition on Dec. 9.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The\u00a0response said the city does not consider RV dwellers on a case-by-case basis and whether the safe parking lot is\u00a0a viable\u00a0option\u00a0for them.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

They said prior to ticketing, officers should consider\u00a0the \u201ctotality of circumstances,\u201d\u00a0including the type of vehicle,\u00a0distance to the safe parking lot, and whether there is adequate space for the vehicle in the safe parking lot.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an interview with Voice\u00a0of San Diego,\u00a0Menasche\u00a0said she handed out the letters because she found plaintiffs\u00a0weren\u2019t\u00a0clear on their rights when interacting with the police.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI decided that I needed to make it easy for them,\u201d said\u00a0Menasche.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city said this\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0part of the\u00a0agreement and\u00a0did not meet and confer with them prior to handing out the letters.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

By doing so, the city said the plaintiffs are in violation of settlement\u00a0terms\u00a0that require attorneys\u00a0to\u00a0resolve disputes,\u00a0\u201cswiftly and inexpensively as\u00a0possible, initially through communication.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

In their\u00a0Dec. 9 response attorneys said they did\u00a0attempt\u00a0to meet and confer, and that the city\u2019s accusation\u00a0is \u201cunfounded.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After\u00a0vehicle dwellers\u00a0filed a legal motion against the city\u00a0saying\u00a0it\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0doing enough to ensure safe parking is available,\u00a0even while it tickets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[1103,32421,74,76,75],"class_list":{"0":"post-123030","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-mission-bay","9":"tag-rvs","10":"tag-san-diego","11":"tag-san-diego-headlines","12":"tag-san-diego-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}