RV community relocates near San Francisco Zoo
RV community relocates near San Francisco Zoo
After city officials in San Francisco asked them to move, an RV community that had been located on Winston Drive has relocated. The community has set up a little more than a mile away from their previous site. The new site, near the San Francisco Zoo, poses new challenges for the community.
SAN FRANCISCO - After city officials in San Francisco asked them to move, an RV community that had been located on Winston Drive has relocated.
That community has set up a little more than a mile away from their previous site to a site on Zoo Road behind the San Francisco Zoo, but neighbors are already raising concerns.
Last week, the city pushed to have the RVs move, and more than a dozen of them wound up on Zoo Rd. including Jamilet Lira and her family, who have called this RV home for three years.
In Spanish, she explained that she moved to Zoo Rd. just eight days ago. She and her family like it a lot because it's quiet and safe. She says it's stressful and hard to keep moving from one location to another.
The new encampment is just a few feet away from the Pomeroy Recreation and Rehabilitation Center, focused on helping those with developmental disabilities thrive.
The center says the RV encampment here is taking up valuable parking spaces for staff and clients. The center also explained that while this RV community seems very peaceful, there was another RV community that parked in the same area previously and harassed clients and staff.
"Our staff and participants are scared," said Jillian Flannery from the Pomeroy Recreation and Rehabilitation Center. "Especially the participants that come here, they don't know. They're intellectually disabled, so they can't really differentiate between the two communities all the time."
The Center has been in contact with the city, and is hopeful a resolution is forthcoming. "I really and truly believe that this city will come up with a solution that's compassionate and beneficial to us and the RV community," said Flannery.
Mayor London Breed's office released a statement saying the mayor agrees that the RVs shouldn't stay parked near the Pomeroy Center, and "the City has already conducted in-person outreach with RV occupants on Zoo Road and will continue to do outreach and offer support, housing and shelter, while enforcing parking laws."
Stephen Martin-Pinto, who is running for District 7 supervisor, toured the site on his own. He says this isn't the place to set up an RV community. "I'm not without compassion, but at the same time, compassion goes both ways," said Martin-Pinto. "Compassion for the neighbors, compassion for the people who use this facility. Compassion is a two-way street."
Myrna Melgar's office, the current supervisor for the area, released a statement reading in part, "I am requesting Mayor Breed’s assistance, and the support of the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing to work with the Pomeroy Center to minimize impacts to the developmentally disabled community and the families that utilize the Pomeroy Center, and to act to mitigate impacts on the users of the road, and ensure housing stability and success for these vulnerable families and their children."
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