Re: “No Free Ride for RVs” (Letters, 8/31): It’s not the folks living in vehicles and RVs who are entitled, but those who feel it is their right to pass abusive laws that violate people’s constitutional rights. The normalization of tearing someone away from the only shelter they have, simply because you fear poverty or the illnesses that often accompany it, is unacceptable in our community. If you don’t want to support the delivery of services to the poor, that’s one thing, but you can’t then turn around and also demand a level of “sightlines” and “order” from those who are struggling to survive in a deeply unforgiving economic system. I refuse to allow you and others like you to continue to spend our community’s funds on just kicking people while they’re down. People deserve more than that.
Reggie Meisler
Santa Cruz
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Maybe this writer should’ve gone back to actually read the letter that he’s commenting on before firing off this disjointed emotional response. Nowhere did the original letter advocate for, or even mention, “tearing someone away from the only shelter they have”, or violating anyone’s constitutional rights. What it did mention was accepting personal responsibility for one’s living arraignments, instead of trying to just skate by on the misplaced generosity of others.
RV dwellers shouldn’t lumped in with the “Sacred Homeless” either, who somehow get away with doing pretty much whatever they want to around here. These folks actually DO have homes, and interestingly enough, they’re mobile too!
In addition to nearly 50 RV parks in Santa Cruz county, there are more than 500 free…yes, FREE…RV campgrounds in CA on land administered by the BLM, USFS, and other federal and state agencies. If those living in RVs think they’re being unfairly harassed for long-term parking on city streets, they’re more than welcome to pack up and move someplace more in tune with their free-living lifestyle.