Jewish Family Service Chief of Staff Chris Olsen said last week that the lot has an average of 70 vehicles, including just eight RVs. The number of RVs increases to about 17 during the winter, he said.RV dwellers have said they do not like the parking lot because they had to be out every day at 7 a.m. and could not return until 6 p.m.
“They towed my bus?” J.P. Palmar said as he walked up to where he had parked his 1969 Volkswagen Westfalia van Wednesday morning. “But it had handicap plates on it!” Jerrod Starbird, 48, has been homeless for two years and until Wednesday had been living in a trailer attached to a 1981 Chevy Titan RV parked on Anna Avenue.
His car was towed a month ago, and Starbird said he just received a notice that it would be auctioned if he didn’t pay a $1,500 impound fee. He estimates outstanding tickets would cost another $1,500. “This is people’s lives, man,” he said. “If they would have taken this car or impounded that tent, we’d be literally on the street, my wife and I and my dog.”
The taxpayers are going to pay over $1,300 per month per parking place. The city owns the land so how in the hell are they managing to spend that much money for parking?