San Francisco, CA
RV campers forced off San Francisco’s Winston Drive search for new home
Amid San Francisco’s controversial homeless encampment sweeps, city officials are struggling to find places to put all the unhoused people with only about 4,000 shelter beds available to accommodate twice that number of people.
And that does not include people living in their cars or RVs.
Evidence of the RV community on Winston Drive in San Francisco – necessities, simple joys, vices and everything in between – is still visible on the stretch of road near the Stonestown Galleria.
But as of August 1st, the community itself was gone.
At the beginning of August, the city started enforcing the 4-hour parking limit on Winston Drive. That came after two months of rallies and protests by the families that lived there.
The move was a long-time coming, not out of the blue. But it meant the people who lived in RV’s along the road, many of them being families from Central America, had no choice but to leave and find somewhere else to go.
Many of the people relocated to Zoo Road, just about a mile or so away from Winston Drive.
That included Juan Carlos Madrid and his family.
“Everyone who is here, we are the same people who were living on Winston,” he said in Spanish.
Prior to the pandemic, living in an RV wasn’t his reality. He came to America from Honduras 23 years ago. He lived in Daly City, had an apartment and a steady construction job. His life was normal. But that changed with COVID, and his family ended up on Winston Drive.
“We were there for almost five years, until they moved us out,” he said.
Madrid says this is not a long-term solution, but it works for now.
“Here, we live one day at a time,” he said.
Tuesday was not an easy day for the people who have relocated to Zoo Road. SFMTA officers were there doing outreach and parking enforcement.
A spokesperson tells CBS News Bay Area they encourage those experiencing homelessness to take advantage of the SFMTA discount and citation waiver programs if they’ve been impacted by parking limits.
For Eusevia Rosales, it was difficult to watch this unfold just days after she and her family also left Winston Drive.
“I don’t know how to tell you,” she said in Spanish. “I don’t know where we can go.”
She and her family came to the USA from El Salvador about a year ago, hoping for a better life away from gang violence, where she could work and help support her family. She had a job, but says an injury has since prevented her from working. At one point her family had an apartment, but it became too expensive.
Like Madrid, they ended up on Winston Drive. The little money she has goes towards taking care of her family, she says.
“I’m thinking about a lot of things. But we have to keep going,” she said.
She says she’d like some kind of direction and is pleading for city officials to come up with a solution for families like hers, such as a safe parking zone.
“I’m so stressed out,” she said. “Without knowing where we could go, knowing that we have the kids, and nobody understands the situation that you’re living through.”
The mayor’s office provided CBS News Bay Area with the following statement:
“The city will continue to do outreach and offer support, housing and shelter, while enforcing parking laws in areas where people live in their RVs. Many of the people now on Zoo Road were previously on Winston, where city outreach teams have done extensive outreach with offers of alternatives to parking on the street. The mayor’s office will continue to work with city departments, including SFMTA and HSH on these efforts.”
The City’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) has hosted five services fairs with the people who lived on Winston Drive, including one as recently as June 27. HSH reports engaging with 27 households in an outreach fair, and says 23 successfully moved out of their vehicles and into housing.
But Yessica Hernandez with the non-profit Coalition on Homelessness, says many of the people who are in the RVs ultimately don’t qualify for some services. Getting them into stable housing situations isn’t simple.
“Not a lot of people qualify for housing. The other families who qualified for something was only for the deposit and the first month’s worth of rent,” she said. “They need to find a site where people can park safely.”
Her organization released a statement on Wednesday going into more detail, that reads in part:
“For over three years, the Coalition on Homelessness and our dedicated allies have worked tirelessly to support these communities. We have engaged with city officials, advocated for better housing solutions, and provided as much assistance as resources allow. However, the need far exceeds the available resources, leaving our most vulnerable residents in a precarious situation. About half the families were able to get subsidized housing over a year ago, but none of the remaining families qualified, not scoring high enough on the city’s coordinated entry assessment tool. Several vacant lots have been identified for safe parking, but action to turn those lots into safe parking has not been taken by San Francisco city officials.”
Hernandez says moving the families around is not a solution; a designated parking lot alone, isn’t either. But she believes a safe parking zone will help bridge the gap as they work towards long-term solutions.
“The best solution is to have a safe parking site, if no housing solutions are available right now,” she said. “We know there are a lot of empty lots around the city. We just need a yes from one of them. We just need a safe parking site where they can park in the meantime, while they find other solutions that are more permanent.”
Madrid says a designated parking place where they can live for now, without worrying if they’ll be forced out, would really help provide a sense of stability.
“We are not a community that makes problems. Just because of the fact that we’re here doesn’t mean that we’re bad people. We’re not bad people,” he said.
On the contrary, he added, saying the majority of people who live in this RV community are families just looking for a better life.
“My dream, is to have a good life with my kids,” he said. “I don’t ask for anything. Only to have a normal life, have an apartment, to have food and clothes for my kids – that’s the American dream.”
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San Francisco, CA
Dozens of apparent shopping carts stuck in marsh along SF Bay: ‘How did they get there?!’
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KGO) — Dozens of apparent shopping carts are stuck in a marsh along the San Francisco Bay. And residents are puzzled as to how they got there.
“It’s crazy! Gross!” said Kim Avalos, who frequents the trail. “What is that?!”
The San Francisco Bay Trail in South San Francisco curves around the mouth of the Colma Creek marsh. It’s a popular walking and running trail, but local residents are starting to notice something in the water.
“Now that I’m looking at… wow…there’s actually so many shopping carts out here,” said Avalos. “There’s an extreme amount.”
Avalos works for a nearby garbage company. She says she walks the trail every day but has never seen anything like this.
“It’s actually kind of insane to think about how they even got there,” Avalos said.
It’s the same story for others who frequent the trail. At first glance, mistaking the debris for rocks until they actually stare at it.
“It kind of blends in,” said Hondres when we approached him on the trail. “I’ve never seen grocery carts out in the Bay like this… I don’t know, it’s kind of weird.”
“Have you noticed it before?” 7 On Your Side’s Stephanie Sierra asked another passer-by.
“Uh… no. This is kind of new,” he said. “Someone is being very stupid… I’ve seen them over the years. I don’t remember there being this many. There’s quite a few.”
Many people who frequent the trail said when it’s high tide it’s hard to notice anything.
“It does look like shopping carts, do you know if that’s what it is?”
It’s hard to say for sure. But at low tide, it certainly looks that way.
“It does look like shopping carts, amongst other things,” Save the Bay representative Josh Quigley said.
And there’s not just one or two, but there’s what appears to be dozens of them spanning the Colma Creek marsh adjacent to the bay.
“Have you ever seen this many shopping carts along the bay?” Stephanie Sierra asked.
“I have not, no,” Quigley said. “This is certainly the greater concentration that I’ve ever seen in one place.”
Quigley is the Senior Policy Manager for Save the Bay, an environmental nonprofit founded in 1961 to stop excessive filling of the San Francisco Bay.
“I think it’s really unfortunate… the bay is treated not as the jewel and resource that it should be, but as a dumping ground,” Quigley said.
So, where is it all coming from? That seems to be up for debate.
“It could be a big prank, if anything, but at this rate I have no idea,” said Alvin Lau, who visits the trail regularly.
“There’s often homeless people in the mobile RV vehicles,” said another. “There’s always a lot of trash here, not going to lie.”
“I don’t know, maybe Costco. They are our neighbors,” Kim Avalos said. “Could be because they do look bigger.”
A Costco Business Center is about a mile from Colma Marsh. 7 On Your Side reached out to Costco’s corporate office, and the South San Francisco Costco General Manager said: “We walk and clean the trail multiple times a week, in addition to checking for any carts that might end up in the bay.”
The goal now is to clean it out — and ensure it stays that way.
“Stop being dumb. There’s only one planet we got, so take care of it,” said Lau.
“It hurts me as an animal lover to see all these shopping carts in their place of habitat,” Avalos said.
“Save the Bay” says overall pollution is decreasing across the bay shoreline, but there are instances–like this one–where smaller pockets need to be addressed.
Locally, there are regulations in place to prevent this type of pollution.
7 On Your Side contacted the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board to further investigate and clean up the area.
Take a look at more stories and videos by 7 On Your Side.
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SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — San Francisco will celebrate the country’s 250th anniversary this July 4 with a rare fireworks show on the Golden Gate Bridge, the mayor’s office announced Monday. It will be the first time in 14 years, and the third time ever, that a fireworks display will be held on the iconic span.
“The Golden Gate Bridge is as iconic as any landmark in the United States, so it’s an ideal place to launch fireworks for our country’s 250th anniversary,” Mayor Daniel Lurie said in a news release announcing the event.
With the change of venue for the city’s annual July 4 fireworks show, the mayor’s office is providing guidance on where to watch, and where not to watch, this year’s Golden Gate Bridge display, set to begin at 9:30 p.m.
Recommended viewing locations:
- Crissy Field
- Marina Green
- Fisherman’s Wharf/Pier 39
The mayor’s office noted that “because this year’s fireworks will launch from the east side of the Golden Gate Bridge between its two towers, the best viewing areas are those with a clear northwest sightline toward the bridge.”
Locations that are not recommended for viewing the fireworks show due to obstructed views include Ocean Beach, the Ferry Building and the Embarcadero waterfront.
The Golden Gate Bridge will be completely shut down to vehicle and pedestrian traffic during the Independence Day show. Vehicles will be blocked from the bridge beginning around 8:30 p.m. until “shortly after the conclusion of the fireworks display,” officials said. The east and west sidewalks will be closed from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
The two previous fireworks displays were in 1987 and 2012, when the Golden Gate Bridge’s 50th and 75th anniversaries were celebrated.
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