RV residents, many disabled, who are suing the City to end its policy of ticketing and impounding their vehicles, have won a partial victory in court.
At issue are two existing City ordinances: (SD Muni. Code § 86.0139(a)0, prohibiting parking an RV anywhere on City streets and lots between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.; and (SD Muni. Code § 86.0137(f)), prohibiting vehicle habitation.
U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Battaglia ruled Aug. 21 that the vehicle habitation ordinance “is both vague on its face and is being arbitrarily and discriminatorily applied.” 
Battaglia granted plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction. That means RV residents are now exempted from being ticketed, or paying fines for outstanding tickets or having their vehicles impounded, until their lawsuit against the City is settled.
However, Battaglia did not grant plaintiffs’ request on the “Nighttime RV Ordinance” barring RVs from City streets and parking lots between 2 and 6 a.m. “Plaintiffs have not shown a likelihood of success on their claim that the ordinance is vague or is being arbitrarily applied,” Battaglia ruled.
“It’s good that there was a victory, at least half a victory,” said Valerie Grischy, one of the suit’s plaintiffs. “It shows that there’s progress.” 
But Grischy, a successful chiropractor now dependent on Supplemental Security Income since a 2009 car accident, noted the goal of RV owners’ challenging City policies is now only half finished.
“This prevents people living in their RVs from being ticketed during the day — at least it stops that,” she said. “But that still makes us sitting ducks for tickets between 2 and 6 a.m.”
Fines RV owners are subjected to range from $50 for violation of signs while parking at odd hours to $112.50 for vehicle habitation. The cost of reclaiming a towed vehicle is substantially higher.
Grischy said people living out of their cars are not impacted by the Nighttime RV Ordinance, but added RV residents aren’t so lucky.
“You can get 72 days worth of parking passes to park on the streets if you have an address,” Grischy said. “But that’s discrimination because those passes are not available to us because we don’t have a physical address.”
Disability Rights California, Fish & Richardson, and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty filed a class-action lawsuit, Bloom et al. vs. City of San Diego, in U.S. District Court in November 2017. The suit challenges the City’s ticketing and impoundment policies on grounds that they are unconstitutional and discriminate against people with disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Disability rights attorney Ann Menasche representing RV residents labelled as “unfortunate” the judge’s decision not to rule in their favor on the Nighttime RV Ordinance. But, she added, “He denied it without prejudice, did not close the door on it.”
 Added Menasche, “We are prepared to move full steam ahead with the litigation.”
Menasche noted the ultimate objective is for “for people to not get punished or criminalized, or have to pay fines or have their RVs impounded, simply because they have no other alternative — and they really do not.”
The attorney pointed out many RV residents are disabled, on fixed incomes, or are not working full-time and therefore can’t afford San Diego’s costly housing.
“Many of these people were born here and they’ve contributed to the community all of their lives,” Menasche pointed out. “They should be treated as human beings and be allowed to live. City policy criminalizes them and makes it harder for them. It’s just very short-sighted. It needs to end.”