laws against RV camping are ineffective and unethical

News flash:  banning RV parking on your local streets doesn’t solve the “problem” (if any).  It moves them elsewhere.

“This past summer, the city of San Rafael passed an ordinance prohibiting RVs and campers from parking for longer than one hour on city streets. As a result, full-size RVs began migrating to Woodland Avenue [in Marin] where they have now taken up residence, ” [Bernstein said](http://www.marinij.com/general-news/20170110/marin-approves-parking-ordinance-for-recreational-vehicles).

NIMBY –> NIMBY –> NIMBY –> ???

RV camping laws are a fig leaf

RV laws, like laws directed against the homeless, are a fig leaf society uses to keep undesirables out of sight.

The complaints against stealth campers are asserted but unproven:

"...we are concerned the resulting waste is being disposed of along the roadside and in the ecologically sensitive marsh area. The dumping of trash and other personal items has increased since these vehicles have been here...”

RV camping laws punish the innocent

If someone is littering then fine them for littering.  If someone is dumping their tanks inappropriately then fine them for it.

But don’t use the alleged infractions of a few as a blunt instrument to banish citizens you don’t like.

But cities don’t do that, and it reveals the alleged violations to be the excuses they are to move people along.

More productive strategies for municipalities

• make it clear to RV campers the rules they need to follow to stay in your community, and hold them to it.

• make RV campers responsible for the areas they camp in. Want to stay here?  Help clean it up and leave it better than you found it.

• See heavily encamped areas as convenient loci for social services.  Get local Social Work major undergrad engaged.  They can volunteer or use the areas for research.