Police say RV parking enforcement crackdown seems to be working

Palo Alto’s enforcement of its 72-hour parking policy on El Camino Real — a response to the growing number of recreational vehicles along the busy state highway — has not led to any tickets or tows so far, city officials said.

The effort seems to be “trending in the right direction,” said Capt. Zach Perron, a spokesman for the Palo Alto Police Department. “Our efforts to notify the vehicle owners of the law appear to be working and we are continuing to monitor conditions.”

The city’s ordinance, which mirrors state law, does not allow vehicles to park on public streets in the same spot for more than 72 hours.

Palo Alto spokeswoman Claudia Keith said that after residents complained about RVs on El Camino being an eyesore, the city dispatched case workers from community groups in June to get a sense of why the vehicles were there and to offer resources.

The city’s crackdown refueled a discussion about Silicon Valley’s affordable housing shortage and sparked outrage among some residents who said the city should do more to help those in RVs because they don’t have another place to live.

John Blake said informational fliers were placed on his RV on El Camino and he moved the vehicle to comply with the law, but the city’s crackdown is confusing and inconsistent.

“Is this a scare tactic?” Blake said. “Are they just moving us around or finding an actual solution?”

Many people live in RVs because they are homeless and perhaps dealing with mental health or substance abuse issues, Blake said. But Blake said he chooses to live in an RV because his plumbing job requires him to be on the road and it doesn’t make sense to pay for a house if he’s never going to be there.

Blake said it was confusing to see that some vehicles were tagged with informational fliers while more derelict RVs elsewhere in the city are not addressed.

Perron said police placed f liers informing vehicle owners of the law on three separate occasions, at about 1 a.m. each time. Officers left fliers on all types of vehicles, including RVs, cars, trailers and vans.

“We went down the line and hung a flier on everybody, not knowing how long they’ve parked there and if they are in violation or not,” Perron said.

After three rounds, officers returned two weeks later and cross-referenced all vehicles to see if they had moved. Four vehicles hadn’t and were issued 72hour tow warnings, Perron said.

“When we went back 72 hours later, all four had moved,” Perron said. “Just notifying folks seemed to really drop the numbers a lot on its own. Our assumption is people may not have been aware of the law and started to comply with the law.”