A GROUP OF residents at a “safe parking” site set up by the city of San Francisco near the former Candlestick Park have launched a petition to form a tenants’ union called the “Candlestick 35,” a reference to the number of vehicles the city says are parked at the site.
The petition begins with the statement that 23 residents of the Bayview Vehicle Triage Center, representing a majority of the units currently at the site, have formed the union “to confront” the city Department of Homelessness and Supportive Services (HSH) about the “shameful” quality of life at the site. HSH created the site and hired the nonprofit contractors that run it.
Ramona Mayon, a resident of the VTC since Aug. 9, 2022, drafted the petition.
Mayon said that the Candlestick 35 qualify as a tenants’ union or association for purposes of San Francisco City Code 49A, which commands the landlord and the tenant association to “confer with each other in good faith on housing services and conditions, community life,” and “other issues of common interest or concern.” The section also protects against interference in organizing activities.
Mayon sees the union as a way that the VTC residents can get to the table for a good faith discussion with HSH about the organization and management of the troubled facility.
Mayon also filed a pro se lawsuit in San Francisco Superior Court on Jan. 26 asking the court to issue an order confirming that “persons living at navigation centers in the State of California” are “tenants” under the state Welfare and Institutions Code.
Emily Cohen, a spokesperson for HSH, said Monday that she had not seen or heard of the Candlestick 35 petition, but commented that during “new client intake, VTC guests sign a Participant Agreement which explicitly states that the VTC is a temporary shelter program and that clients are not tenants and do not have tenants’ rights.”
Cohen added, “We are happy to work closely with guests on any concerns that they might have.”
Camp Dismal
In the petition, the group presented a list of 19 issues that it seeks to address with HSH and the two nonprofit subcontractors — Urban Alchemy and Bayview Hunters Point Foundation — that HSH retained to administer the site.
Many of the issues are found and documented on a website created by Mayon.
The landing page of the website greets a visitor with the salutation: “Welcome to Camp Dismal.” The issues begin with alleged environmental contamination at the site (“Bleak, Toxic Location”) and move to the rat infestation (“rats everywhere … absolutely inadequate pest control. They are eating our vehicle wires.”) and then on to the now two-year delay in providing promised power at the site.
The list continues, raising issues with “inedible food served at unsafe temperatures,” alleged Americans with Disabilities Act violations, flooding, and alleged unauthorized seizure of residents’ property.
One section calls out “human zoo tours” conducted without notice through which officials, the media, religious groups and community outreach workers are escorted through the site to show off the facility.
The website’s narrative offers Mayon’s perspective on the tours: “The first time it happened to me, I was livid. To have people walk through, without notice … and for them to stop and observe, take pictures even. I immediately understood that Urban Alchemy, who holds the main contract, is able to use this place as a sort of demo to sell their services to other cities.”
The next issue is the VTC’s prohibition on the residents of the site inviting guests to visit. (“We can’t have visitors, thus social isolation by policy. Even prisons have to allow visitors.”)
Attached to the petition are 22 signature pages, each with information about a particular individual joining the union. On many of the pages, the individual signatories identify the key issues they want the tenants’ union to accomplish. Many name the lack of power and issues with water, toilets, and showers. Others want better food and access for visitors. Several seek respect from Urban Alchemy. One says, “Stop this communist regime that violates our BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS.”
The list of issues is followed by 31 specific “demands.” Most of the demands are concrete and practical, for example, that the staff wear nametags so they can be identified, and that the VTC provide Wi-Fi and arrange an address where they can receive mail. Others are more far-reaching (“Stop digging and any industrial level disturbance of the air in this toxic location.”)
“To have people walk through, without notice … and for them to stop and observe, take pictures even. I immediately understood that Urban Alchemy … is able to use this place as a sort of demo to sell their services to other cities.”
Ramona Mayon, Bayview VTC tenant
Mayon said that she hoped that the organizing efforts will make the city understand that conditions of the site must be improved, and that the residents of the VTC will be recognized as having at least the same rights that other tenants are given under California law.
Most of all, she hoped that the union will have a seat at the table when policies and decisions are being debated for the site.
She noted that for the last two years, the city has been convening a monthly working group of neighbors and interested parties to discuss the VTC, but the residents have never been invited to participate.
She pointed out that when the city gave notice of an application for a permit that would allow diesel-powered generators at the site, the city sent the notice to the neighbors in the area because of the potential impacts of polluting diesel emissions 1,000 feet from their properties. However, the city did not give notice to the VTC residents, even though they were living within a coin toss of the generators.
Mayon said, “We weren’t seen as people living here; they didn’t even consider we needed a notice.” After a news article about the issue, notice was ultimately provided to the residents.
The VTC’s jailhouse lawyer
Mayon has lived in a vehicle for most of her adult life and raised five children in a school bus parked at various locations around San Francisco. She has authored and self-published a number of books about living a nomadic life.
She frequently writes about the law as it applies to vehicle dwellers, including “The Vehicle Dweller’s Legal Primer.” She readily says she is a “wordsmith” not a lawyer, and while she would reject the description, it seems she is the safe parking site’s equivalent of a jailhouse lawyer.
Mayon is well aware that tenants are typically thought of as people who pay rent to live in a particular place under the terms of a lease. VTC residents don’t pay rent. Nevertheless, in this context, she argues that the residents of the VTC qualify as tenants for purposes of the city ordinance.
Mayon provides an intricate, lawyerly argument to support her position that the VTC residents are “tenants.” She points out that to site the VTC at its current location — a vacant parking lot near the boat launch in Candlestick Point State Recreation Area — the city represented to the city Planning Department that the facility was a “low barrier navigation center.”
That was a crucial representation because the Planning Department relied on it to conclude that the city did not have to undertake a comprehensive environmental assessment of the site under the California Environmental Quality Act, commonly called CEQA.
In Mayon’s view, a CEQA review would have revealed that the site was in an area heavily polluted by toxic heavy metals and contaminants. Moreover, the city would have been forced to analyze and disclose the risks from the site’s location 300 feet from “Parcel F” at Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, a federal “Superfund” site slated for cleanup between 2024 and 2028.
The petition works through interlinking statutory provisions and showcases the fact that the California Code refers to the people at such a shelter as “tenants” more than a dozen times.
She makes the further point that once the city represented that the facility was a low-barrier navigation center for purposes of avoiding CEQA review, it cannot dispute that the residents are indeed tenants.
Whether or not she succeeds in that interpretation of the law, some, perhaps many, of the issues the union wishes to negotiate are also covered by the standards of care that apply to all shelters in San Francisco. In Section 20.404 of the Administrative Code, the city requires “all City-funded shelter operators to meet minimum standards of care in the shelter system,” including that all shelter clients “be treated with dignity and respect and … provided with a clean, healthy, and safe shelter stay.”
The Bayview Vehicle Triage Center
The Bayview VTC — “Camp Dismal” — is a city initiative to address the large population of “vehicularly housed” residents.
The city’s July 2023 “Tent, Structure and Vehicle Count” found there were 1,058 inhabited vehicles in the city. In other words, almost a quarter of the city’s unsheltered homeless population live in vehicles. (People sleeping in vehicles are considered unsheltered.)
The VTC was conceived of as a place where vehicles could safely park and residents would be able to access services, including an electric connection, showers, and greywater and blackwater pump-out. The site would also provide security and an opportunity for residents to connect to opportunities for housing.
It seemed like a tremendous idea because it addressed the Bayview District neighbors’ dissatisfaction with people living in cars and RVs — often without pump-out services — on their streets, as well as the needs of vehicle dwellers who wanted to avoid the risk of being towed for accumulated parking tickets and also to get an electric hook-up and other services.
Given the enormous demand and the fact that the city had already run what it considered a successful pilot program in Balboa Park, there was every reason to think that the VTC would be a huge feather in HSH’s cap.
Not so.
The center opened with fanfare in January 2022 and almost immediately encountered problems.
Despite HSH’s assurances to neighbors and potential residents that the site could easily be connected to electric service, it turned out that the process to connect to the grid was complicated and time-consuming. At the start, the city could not even power overhead lighting in the parking area where the RVs were parked.
One fumble followed another.
The city brought in 16 diesel-powered generators to power the overhead lighting, but the loud and noxious generators did not provide enough power for the RVs, meaning that residents did not have lighting or heat in their vehicles.
Moreover, the city did not apply for a permit for the generators, attracting a federal lawsuit from neighbors who argued that they were already in one of the most environmentally “overburdened” communities in the city, and the diesel emissions allegedly harmed their health and safety.
The city punched back with the argument that because each individual generator was (just) below the threshold that required a permit, they did not have to get a permit for the site. The neighbors countered with the proposition that the 16 generators were part of a common enterprise and should be considered in the aggregate, which would be far in excess of the permitting threshold. While the city’s position has prevailed to date, the issue remains in litigation.
Under continued pressure from fed-up neighbors and adverse publicity, the city replaced the 16 diesel generators with solar-powered outdoor lighting.
That solution lit the parking lot, though dimly, but didn’t generate enough juice to power the RVs. For that the city applied to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District — the Clean Air Act permitting authority — for a permit to run two large diesel generators until a long-term connection to the grid could be secured.
When BAAQMD posted notice of the permit application, it received many objections. For months, the permit applications remained in limbo. Meanwhile, residents lived at the site without heat or lighting in the vehicles.
Not only was the lack of power a challenge for the residents, but without a long-term power source, the city was not able to expand the site beyond 49 vehicles, far short of the 155 originally envisioned.
$170,000 per resident
Meanwhile the cost of the project ballooned. HSH gave large no-bid contracts to the two nonprofits that contracted to provide services at the site. The Bayview Hunters Point Foundation got a contract for $3,401,682 (Contract Number 1000024673). Urban Alchemy’s contract was $5,210,141 (Contract number 1000024025).
A February 2023 analysis by Bay City News found that in the first year of operations, the city spent $170,000 per resident at the site, a staggering amount given that the city was not providing housing — residents lived in their own vehicles — and the location was basically an empty parking lot in a state park.
Much of the city spending was for capital improvements to accommodate lighting services, but as time passed that seemed an increasingly questionable use of funds, given that the neighbors were promised the site would only be in place for two years. Nevertheless, the city persisted.
The second year of operations did not resolve the problems. Permanent power was not secured. Occupancy was not expanded; it declined to 35 vehicles, and the city had only modest success in placing residents in long-term housing.
Then, despite its assurances to the neighbors, the city decided to seek a two-year lease extension from the state. The neighbors protested and argued, among things, that CEQA review was required. The Planning Department — again relying on the idea the site was a lower barrier navigation center — issued a memorandum dated Sept. 30, 2023 saying CEQA did not apply.
With the memorandum in hand, HSH was successful in convincing the Board of Supervisors to approve the extension, notwithstanding a skeptical Sept. 25, 2023 report by the office of the city Budget and Legislative Analyst.
While the BLA’s report recommended approval because of the city’s prior commitment to operating a vehicle triage center, it noted that estimated operating costs (capital costs not included) for the new two-year term would be approximately $11.6 million and the city was currently limited to just 35 vehicles.
The analyst observed dryly that because “PG&E often has long lead times for power connection projects, it is possible that site capacity may not expand during the two-year term of the proposed sublease.”
Were that to be the case, the analyst said, “the cost per vehicle is approximately $140,000 per year, which is by far the [city’s] most expensive homeless response intervention.”
The Board of Supervisors approved the new lease on Oct. 5, 2023, and on Dec. 5, the State Lands Commission approved the two-year extension over objections by the neighbors and further litigation, now focused on the city’s failure to obtain CEQA review for the renewal.
As the initial term of the lease ended on Jan. 12, 2024, the site was not even fully using its diminished capacity of 35 vehicles.
A January count by Paul R, a long time VTC resident who asked that his full name not be used for fear of retaliation, found there were 24 motorhomes, four trailers (only two occupied), an old U-Haul truck and a “shed on wheels.” There was also one person living in an SUV.
Moreover, according to Paul, only four of the motorhomes were actually able to run.
Let there be light!
With the beginning of the new lease term came the 2024 rainy season and as had happened in 2023, there was extensive flooding on Hunters Point Expressway. The standing water on a section of road the length of three football fields was so deep that people seeking to access Candlestick Point State Recreation Area or the VTC had to use a relocated access route created after the 2023 floods.
However, there was some good news. The city found what it believed was at least a temporary solution to the power issue.
On Dec. 19, 2023, the city entered into an agreement to rent three large mobile batteries to power the residents’ RVs and otherwise electrify the site.
As the batteries are used up, they will be hot-swapped with recharged batteries trailered in by the vendor. The city anticipates that the batteries will allow power for the residents eight hours a day.
Rachel Gordon, a spokesperson for the Department of Public Works — the department that handled the procurement — said the batteries are emission-free.
When asked if it was new technology and, if not, why it wasn’t used sooner, Gordon said, “The vendors available to us did not have this technology as an option in spring/summer of 2022 when we were researching sources for temporary power.”
The batteries will be used until a connection to the grid is up and running. Emily Cohen, a spokesperson for HSH, estimated that will take another five months, though that depends on PG&E, and given the prior delays, Cohen was not willing to go to the bank on that estimate.
Gordon gave a different response. She said it would be, “Potentially six to seven months.” Unfortunately, according to Cohen, the city will not be allowed to add more capacity at the site until it is connected to the grid, and so for the next five (or six or seven) months or more, only 35 vehicles will be supported at the site, even though it was initially supposed to accommodate 155.
If tenants at the Bayview VTC consume the amount of energy estimated in a purchase order for portable batteries at the site, it would amount to a monthly charge of $1,955 for each of the 35 vehicles.
The overall cost of the temporary fix is not yet known but it will be substantial.
According to Gordon, the battery rental will cost the city $137,000 for six months, not including the charge for swapping batteries when they are exhausted.
The final cost of swapping the batteries as they are expended will depend on actual usage, but the city’s purchase order and rental contract with Richmond-based Moxion Power estimates a total of $273,000 in swap charges, depending on usage.
With tax and delivery charges, the estimated all-in cost for the six month period is $410,602.
That means that if the usage is what is estimated in the purchase order, the city will pay a monthly charge of $1,955 for each of the 35 vehicles at the site.
Even if the usage is half of what was estimated in the purchase order, the usage would work out to $1,302 per vehicle per month, still a whopping electric bill, particularly since the city has limited electric usage to eight hours a day.
The batteries have been put into service and last Wednesday two RVs were connected. More were expected to be connected this week.
Residents were advised that power would be available from 5 p.m. Until 1 a.m.
The rat problem
As the new lease term began, the city was also addressing another problem at the site: the rat infestation.
The Camp Dismal website has a whole section on the “Rat Problem,” replete with pictures of crows feasting on a dead rat and a cleanup worker shoveling up a very large carcass.
The website also has a transcript of what is reported to be a community meeting on Dec. 12, 2023, where residents report that rats were eating the wiring on the underside of their RVs. (“we’re just sitting here getting eaten alive.”)
Then a person identified as a staff member for Urban Alchemy reports to the residents that according to the exterminators they consulted, getting rid of the rats is “kind of like you jump in the water and say we’re going to get rid of all the fish.”
In a Dec. 12 email, Mayon proposed a solution to BVHP, “for the size of the rat problem, y’all just need to bring in a gang of cats. It would also be cheerful for everyone. Mess of cats would do a world of good.”
She explained, “it’s making people crazy out here because it’s super unhealthy to have the [rat] feces in your house or around pets. Also folks feel hopeless, it’s scary battling the bastards without light. Not to be repetitive about our biggest problem, but I mean, think about it. Rats love the dark and we have no electricity.”
A BHPF representative responded right away. He lateraled the issue to Urban Alchemy with the comment, “also appreciate your cat idea and hope we will explore it. (I’ve had some great mousers in residential facilities, but those were more outdoor locations.). It may not be feasible at the nav center because of city restrictions or issues like guests with dogs.”
He followed that with a second message the next day, “Apologies for my confusing message. I thought you were staying at the nav[igation] center and just realized you are at the VTC. I’m sure that [our staff] will reach out to the folks from Urban Alchemy to see what can be done there. I still like the cat idea!”
According to Mayon, after the proposal was lateraled to them, Urban Alchemy did not reply.
However, thereafter they began to use high-pressure hoses to clear the area of rat feces and debris which, she says, blew clouds of toxic and unhealthy particles all around the lot. They also began to do “rodent proofing” work underneath the RVs to keep rats and mice from chewing the wires on the undercarriage of the RVs.
Mayon is particularly attentive to environmental issues at the site. She was diagnosed with breast cancer before her motorhome was towed to the VTC and was receiving hospice care from February 2022 to June 2023, when it ended because, she said, “insurance for hospice care ran out because I didn’t die in the allowed timeframe.”
The petition
There was irony in the timing of the formation of the tenants’ union and the filing of the lawsuit to be recognized as tenants.
Mayon’s RV was scheduled to be connected to battery power any day, and after 18 months of living on the dollops of power she got from her 100W solar panel and deep cell battery, she will have power provided by the city.
But even more importantly, the city’s mechanic began to make repairs on her vehicle through the Vehicle Repair Fund.
The mechanic installed a new starter and made a few more fixes. Her RV had not been run in at least 18 months, and Mayon did not know what to expect. But when the mechanic fired it up on Jan. 24, it started.
Mayon was ecstatic.
She said, “It purred. Ran it 20 minutes. Did not backfire when he turned it off.” There are still things to be fixed before it is roadworthy — she said she has an “inverted leaf spring” caused by the city’s towing — but she said, “This is a good day. The RV started. I don’t care what else has to be done on it. I will leave here in it.”
Asked if getting power and her vehicle repaired made the tenants’ union irrelevant, Mayon said, “For me, because I have cancer, my outcome is only one thing … the reason it’s important right now is literally these people have rights that they’ve been denied for the last two years, and they’ve been treated abysmally.”
She went on, “I think these people deserve to tell their stories.”