This story first ran in El Tecolote.
In hopes of forcibly securing a new place to park, the RV community parked along Winston Drive near Lake Merced took over an empty lot at the San Francisco Zoo Monday night. Around 2am, police moved the RV residents to another temporary site near Skyline Boulevard.
Stressed and anxious about the city’s deadline to clear the street, RV residents organized a caravan of approximately 50 RVs to drive two miles to an empty lot off the Great Highway at 8pm. These RVs are primarily occupied by Latinx families and children who have formed a tight-knit community over the years.
Organizers cut through the lock of a chain-link gate using a chainsaw, propping the gate open for the line of incoming RVs that assembled one by one into designated parking spaces. All RVs and vehicles were inside the lot within an hour.
“I have a gigantic uncertainty in my heart because we don’t know what can happen,” said Carlos Felipe, 40, who joined the RV caravan. “We’re kind of exerting some pressure to see if [the city] can find us a permanent location … we ask all the authorities to support us, because there are a lot of families here.”
The move comes after several notices from the city to clear Winston Drive ahead of a planned repavement project. Despite the deadline being repeatedly pushed back, RV residents said District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar made it clear the four-hour parking limit posted along the street will be enforced starting August 1.
“They told us we definitely had to go,” said Eusevia Rosales, 48, who lives in an RV with her husband, children, and grandchildren.
Without a city-backed parking site or affordable housing options, RV residents fear displacement from Winston Drive would force their families to live on the streets—a risk they say is far more dangerous than trespassing and occupying an empty lot.
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“We’re not safe. We don’t know if the police will arrive. They could take us away,” said Rosales hours before the move. “They can even take our RVs from us … we don’t know where [else] to go, so we are risking it.”
By Tuesday morning, the lot had been emptied. Exhausted RV residents are waiting to hear from city officials on what their next steps will be. “I haven’t slept and it’s been stressful seeing everyone trying to find a spot,” said Jamilet Calderon, 43, who has lived on Winston Drive for several years. “It’s sad because we don’t have anywhere to go.”
