Vehicularily housed Bay Area residents are constantly harassed by the police - but in most cases the police harassment stems from continuous "nimbyism" from both businesses and residents.
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by Tiny I was living in my car at the time -as I had been on and off for many years. It was almost midnight. I was trying to inconspicuously park in a light industrial zone near 22nd and 3rd Streets… the late hour silence was filled with the cacophony of urban nature, the clicking of small waves hitting the Bay shore danced with the 2-2 rythem of a baritone foghorn… And then suddenly… a canon shaped beam of light tore through the black fabric of night. Three shimmering white vehicles circled first and then stopped. There was a heavy click-click of door handles..followed by the crunch of heels hitting asphalt, the deep wumph of doors slamming, faint police band radio yelps grew louder until a pair of thighs appeared at my window swathed in too-tight khaki polyester. Bits of arrest sounds came through a shoulder radio as the thighs slowly squatted to reveal a white mustachioed face - facial pores glistening in the pale moonlight." Can I see your driver's license and current registration? - and you are going to need to step out of the vehicle..NOW," the officer demanded, his voice had serrated steel edges that sliced through the air Thirty terrifying minutes later the car which had acted as a "house" for my mother and myself off and on for the last several years was being towed because the registration was not current and we had too many tickets. The mouth of the tow truck opened wide, consuming its late night snack of our beat up 1986 Ford Fairmont - starting its meal with the hind portion - the tired wheels refusing to spin, even in midair, just sat in place resigned to their seizure, bouncing one last goodbye to me before the car was dragged away to its own form of vehicular hell. I stood there in the black night, illuminated by one lone street lamp, the distant ships providing accompaniment to my streaming tears. unsure of where to go - unsure of how to put one foot in front of the other, and think up another form of survival in a long list of survival strategies Poor folks who are evicted from their homes due to gentrification, and/or become homeless because of other circumstances related to poverty are often forced to live in their vehicles, if they are lucky enough to have one. Often people are afraid of shelters and would choose living in their car over unsafe group living situations, such as many of the Bay Area shelters. Vehicularily housed Bay Area residents are constantly harassed by the police - but in most cases the police harassment stems from continuous "nimbyism" from both businesses and residents, i.e., in neighborhoods - urban and suburban- the cops are swiftly summoned when anyone even appears to be homeless or vehicularily housed. And in most industrial or light industrial zones businesses will constantly call on local officials and cops to ticket, harass and/or change the existing parking laws to make sure that no one is allowed to stay and interfere with their " business" The coalition on homelessness and POOR Magazine are working on this issue with the goal of addressing the unjust laws that criminalize homeless folks, and as well, we are drafting a vehicularily housed bill of rights -which will be presented before the board of supervisors in San Francisco. We never got our "house" (car) back, even though I attempted to go through the very arbitrary tow "hearing" which people lose most of the time, based on how the man running the "hearing" is feeling that day. That experience led to a chain of events that sunk my mother and I deeper into the vicious cycle of poverty. And it also wasn't the last time that I would be confronted by the police for what I call "driving while Poor" (DWP). POOR Magazine and The Coalition on Homelessness will be presenting a Vehicularily Housed Bill of Rights at an Art-Action-Rally on Wednesday, May 30 at 12:00 noon at City Hall in San Francisco- To get involved with the Action please call POOR at (415) 863-6306 To report Driving While Black or Brown harassment call |