They're Rollin' on the Mobile Now, too!

Last night, some friends I hadn't seen in a few months showed up in my usual area. One has a van now, and all three were sleeping in there last night. They were parked two slots down from where I'd parked to overnight.

This morning, they told me that in the middle of the night, a police cruiser had pulled up and apparently ran all of our license plates, one by one. I'd heard tell the other day that someone had been talking to one of the "meter maids" who told them that, indeed, there was a plan to "enforce" against those of us living/sleeping in our vehicles.

This is against the law. Illegal. ESPECIALLY if you have a vehicle that's actually made for (i.e. good for) doing just that. Or if you've "modified" your vehicle in any way that can be deemed that (e.g. adding a "bed", having typical "living supplies" in apparent view, etc.). Of course, if cited, one can always go to all the time and trouble, and expense, to go to court to fight that.

Another couple that recently got themselves into a small RV truck and then, most recently, just barely managed to get some sorely needed repairs to keep it running and safe from seizure, awoke this morning to two citations on their windshield, about two blocks away from where I was. And the police had actually removed their license plates from the vehicle. Seems there was a problem with the annual registration stickers on 'em. They also have a coupla' unpaid parking tickets.

That's similar to how it often goes -- you get ticketed for minor parking infractions. These cost almost $50 each. At first. If not paid "on time" they begin to ratchet up, pretty quickly hitting $100 apiece or more. Unfortunately, we rarely have "extra" funds around to so suddenly pay down these kinds of things, either. They know that, too.

So all-too-quickly a person can find they've been hit with hundreds of dollars in fines. And then their vehicle gets towed, which adds a coupla' few hundred more to the bill. In effect, they've stolen your vehicle/home . . . and have seized everything you own in it, other than what you're happening to be carrying with you when they grabbed it all.

Typically all that stuff is quickly gone through and anything of real value stolen -- somehow. After all, who has any kind of reliable, current "inventory" documented/recorded officially enough to account for things? What's left can be retrieved, probably some distance away, but can mean actually scheduling an appointment to do so. If you have any means to get there and transport much out.

Then there's a daily "storage charge" for holding your rig hostage, on top of everything else. Naturally, most folks can't possibly pay all that, so the thing is sold off by The Powers That Be to pay themselves. Doesn't the public feel much safer and pleased to have city coffers boosted by these kinds of deals?

Voila! You're back on the streets, with next to nothing. Again. Which is increasingly illegal, in effect, too. Can't have any scofflaws, outlaws and criminals around here! OR folks just trying to get off the sidewalks and piece something back together again, step by painful step, as might be at all realistically and viably possible.