Obtaining the RV

[John61CT]

They limit that land use to a specific area, likely already degraded land value.

Usually grandfathered pre-existing, good luck starting a new one in a nice part of town.

Same with mental issues or substance rehab/dispensary/half-way house, homeless shelter, dive bar, soup kitchen. . .

[Putts]

Wow, Heidi, what a journey. Lots of stuff to go "Argh!" at, but the whole family not loving you because of your choice to love someone is a bitter pill. There's people in my family I just plain choose not to consort with at all for essentially the same reason. No, it's not okay for you to sit there and judge me. See ya.

Sorry, Heidi.

Here's hoping you get a tow vehicle soon. 

[TrainChaser]

Property values may be part of it (they don't want to deal with the neighbors whining), but I suspect that the main reason is the taxes. They can collect a lot more taxes when there is a house on it. And an RV park pays taxes. Follow the Money.

[John61CT]

Comes to the same thing anyway.

If any local government allowed values of property owned by influential residents to fall, lots more than "whining", they'd be tossed out on their ear next election.

But from a big-picture POV allowing some (growing) non-wealthy part of the population to "drop out" live comfortably without being wage-slaves threatens the whole status quo.

High-wage cities with tight zoning, landlords sitting on a gold mine, the poors have to be pushed way out of downtown, and without decent public transport either.

[Heidi Mull]

What is the length and weight of that TT?

Length is 23 feet without the tongue. The rest of the info I copied off the site:

Unloaded Vehicle Weight (lbs.): 4555
Dry Hitch Weight (lbs.): 545
Gross Vehicle Weight Rating (lbs.): 6500
Cargo Carrying Capacity (lbs.): 1945

Exterior Length: 26' 5"
Exterior Height with A/C: 126"
Interior Height (living area): 81"

Fresh Water Capacity (gal.) includes water heater: 37
Gray Wastewater Capacity (gal.): 33
Toilet/Black Wastewater Capacity (gal.): 33

[Heidi Mull]

<-------->
It turned out the city mayor had to approve a 30 day stay or under, and after that the city council could approve longer stays. The city council was sympathetic and wanted to help, but their hands were tied unless the mayor approved the first 30 days. He would not. He referred to living in an RV as "dangerous". He kept asking me where our poop went? After I had already explained it multiple times, and he kept saying "But where does it go? But where does it go?" I finally just said "The same place yours does, sir!"

They would not budge. I told them it was winter, it's freezing, I'm injured and chronically ill and I'm living in a minivan because I have nowhere else to go. Why do they feel living in an RV with all the amenities, heat, electrical water and sewer hookup was more dangerous than living in my van without these things throughout the winter? It made no sense at all.
<-------->

Hello Heidi, I'm trying to understand why this mayor kept asking where your poop went, but you said this place has all the amenities, which include electric, water, and sewer hook up? This is totally not making sense to me.

It is confusing, sorry about that.

So, the property had a house, that was undergoing major renovations. The interior was not livable, though it did have an intact restroom along with electricity and running water. So we had an extension cord going out, hose hookup, and had purchased a FloJet RV waste pump to periodically empty our tank into the toilet in the house.

We also told them we would be willing to empty the waste into our portable tank and drive it out to a dump station, if they were more comfortable with that.

I'm not sure the mayor had ever seen the inside of an RV before. He was asking things like "So you have a sink? Where does the water go?" I explained, and he couldn't seem to comprehend the notion of a holding tank. I don't think I've ever met anyone as ignorant about RVs....and it seemed, willfully so, as we kept circling back to the exact same basic questions.

The oddest thing is that there were easily a dozen RVs on that street alone. Practically every other house had them. The city had no trouble at all with RVs being there, they just weren't okay with people actually staying inside them while they were there.

And, the clarify further, they had given these permits out to people before. But they were unwilling to give one out to me specifically. They said one of the reasons was because I couldn't give them a definitive amount of time that I'd be staying there. By the time I was saying "Will you at least just let me stay there for the winter?" They were like "but you didn't start out asking for that, so we have to go by what you first asked." Mind you this isn't on the side of the road...this is parked in the driveway on private property.

Sigh.

[Ballenxj]

It is confusing, sorry about that.

So, the property had a house, that was undergoing major renovations. The interior was not livable, though it did have an intact restroom along with electricity and running water. So we had an extension cord going out, hose hookup, and had purchased a FloJet RV waste pump to periodically empty our tank into the toilet in the house.

We also told them we would be willing to empty the waste into our portable tank and drive it out to a dump station, if they were more comfortable with that.

I'm not sure the mayor had ever seen the inside of an RV before. He was asking things like "So you have a sink? Where does the water go?" I explained, and he couldn't seem to comprehend the notion of a holding tank. I don't think I've ever met anyone as ignorant about RVs....and it seemed, willfully so, as we kept circling back to the exact same basic questions.

The oddest thing is that there were easily a dozen RVs on that street alone. Practically every other house had them. The city had no trouble at all with RVs being there, they just weren't okay with people actually staying inside them while they were there.

And, the clarify further, they had given these permits out to people before. But they were unwilling to give one out to me specifically. They said one of the reasons was because I couldn't give them a definitive amount of time that I'd be staying there. By the time I was saying "Will you at least just let me stay there for the winter?" They were like "but you didn't start out asking for that, so we have to go by what you first asked." Mind you this isn't on the side of the road...this is parked in the driveway on private property.

Sigh.

It sounds like his mind was already made up, and wasn't  going to budge regardless of the argument or reasoning. Probably under pressure from somebody else that he owed a favor to.