Calling the City\u2019s new Vehicle Habitation Ordinance draconian, people living in their vehicles \u2013 seniors, veterans, the disabled, low-income \u2013 rallied in Mission Bay Park on July 17 protesting “poverty apartheid.”
\nAt a small but spirited rally, Ann Menasche, senior attorney with Disability Rights California, likened the new VHO to class separation in the former apartheid practices in South Africa.\u00a0
\n“[The City] repealed a bad [ordinance] and they made one worse,” Menasche said. “They only listened to certain people, and didn\u2019t seem to care about other people who support the rights of homeless citizens to live.”
\nCharacterizing the City\u2019s safe parking lots program as a “boondoggle,” Menasche noted, “They didn\u2019t figure out what amenities, like hook-ups, that people need in RVs. They\u2019re treating them like cars. [Safe lots] are in the worst possible locations, far from where they can legally stay during the day.”
\nIn February, the City Council repealed its old VHO after a federal Judge found it unconstitutional and halted all enforcement. The new VHO was approved by City Council on May 14 following a backlash from residents complaining of unsanitary conditions and security issues regarding residents residing on city streets. A vehicle is considered inhabited if there is evidence of sleeping, bathing or meal preparation there.
\nUnder the new law, people are not allowed to sleep in their cars from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., or at any time within 500 feet of homes and schools. Police were “redirecting” vehicle residents to multiple “safe parking places” around the city before issuing tickets.
\nOn July 17, vehicle residents and their supporters spoke out.
\nDecorated Vietnam veteran Robert Ewing, who lives out of his RV, said: “I\u2019m 65 and I\u2019m just tryin\u2019 to survive, get a good night\u2019s sleep. I\u2019m not trying to get tied up with the law. “They are running people out. Qualcomm (safe lot) was a joke. Why don\u2019t you help me keep my motorhome? That\u2019s where I live.”
\nNavy veteran Yusef Miller with Interfaith Worker Justice of San Diego County, a national network advancing the rights of workers through unions, worker centers, etc., delivered a strong message.
\n“Our brothers and sisters who bled and died for our country are sleeping on the streets with nowhere to go,” he said. “We fought for America. We are all in danger of being homeless ourselves. This is not me. This is you. This is all of us. This is all of our fight.”
\nAdded Miller, “This is America. We fought for everyone to have a livable wage.”
\nGuitar in hand, before leading everyone in singing “This Land is Your Land,” “We Shall Not be Moved” and “We Shall Overcome,” attorney Menasche said,” They are trying to exclude an entire group of poor people from most City streets, beaches and parks any time of the day or night. They are imposing a 9 p.m. curfew on adults who\u2019ve committed no crimes. Who is this class of pariahs? They are seniors, college students, veterans, low-income families.”
\nRalliers in unison chanted, “Housing, not handcuffs.”<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Calling the City\u2019s new Vehicle Habitation Ordinance draconian, people living in their vehicles \u2013 seniors, veterans, the disabled, low-income \u2013 rallied in Mission Bay Park on July 17 protesting “poverty apartheid.” At a small but spirited rally, Ann Menasche, senior attorney with Disability Rights California, likened the new VHO to class separation in the former […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":266295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11559","_seopress_titles_title":"Veterans, senior citizens rally against City\u2019s new Vehicle Habitation Ordinance","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11559,11551],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-266294","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beach-bay-press","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266294","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=266294"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/266294\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=266294"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=266294"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=266294"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}