SAN DIEGO (CN) --- Unhoused San Diego residents who have taken refuge in RVs and camper vans gathered Thursday to celebrate the life of one of their own: advocate and class action plaintiff Michael Bloom, who was found dead in his van June 3.
Bloom, 72, the lead plaintiff of the class action Bloom v. City of San Diego filed in the Southern District of California in 2017, fought the city’s vehicle habitation ordinance which outlawed residents from living either temporarily or permanently in their vehicles.
He was found dead in his van this month after living in vehicles for more than a decade, unable to pay for rent on his disability income of a little more than $1,000 a month after suffering injuries in a head-on car collision in the 1980s.
In 2018, U.S. District Judge Anthony Battaglia found the ordinance “is both vague on its face and is being arbitrarily enforced.” He issued an injunction barring San Diego from ticketing people or impounding their vehicles under the local law.
The injunction prompted the city to repeal the ordinance in 2019, only to revive it three months later through a new iteration. The new law sought to address Battaglia’s concerns about vagueness by specifying a list of factors for police to use when determining if someone is in fact living in their vehicle, including possessing or storing items such as cookware, food and water, grooming items or containers of human waste.
The ordinance was established during former mayor Kevin Faulconer’s administration. Faulconer, a Republican, is currently campaigning to replace Governor Gavin Newsom in a recall election scheduled for Sept. 14.
Faulconer’s campaign revealed this week his strategies for addressing homeless in California, which include building more shelters and stricter enforcement of laws that bar camping in public spaces. Under Faulconer’s watch as San Diego mayor, the city experienced a hepatitis A outbreak in 2017 which spread among the unhoused population living on the streets that ended up killing 20 people.
Several of Bloom’s friends called the vehicle habitation ordinance Faulconer’s “legacy” at the memorial Thursday.
“That’s his legacy and something we probably ought to keep in mind as he tries to work his way up to governorship,” Bloom’s friend and fellow class action plaintiff Stephen Chatzky said at the memorial held in Mission Bay Park, where many campers park their vehicles.
Chatzky held a citation in his hand when he talked about Bloom’s challenge to get by on disability income.
“Michael did what he had to do and that was live in a van and try to stay out of trouble,” Chatzky said.
Chatzky added: “Trouble came to him so many times in the form of $112.50 --- that’s how much the ticket costs each time somebody has an RV on the street between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m. That adds up: five of those tickets and you’re susceptible to being towed and then your home goes away and getting it back once you’ve paid impound fees is practically impossible.”
Chatzky --- who said in an interview his vehicle was impounded a couple years ago and he paid $1,000 in fees to get it back --- noted other parking tickets issued by the city for parking in red zones or in front of a fire hydrant cost about half as much as those issued to drivers of oversized vehicles.
“Some things are meant to prevent upward mobility and to keep people in their place and these tickets do quite a bit of that,” Chatzky said.
Disability Rights California attorney Ann Menasche represents the plaintiffs in the class action. She said the case is “moving, finally, toward trial, though sadly without Michael” after failed settlement talks with the city.
Menasche said Bloom died prematurely due, in part, to the difficulties he faced as person without permanent housing.
“Like many other unhoused residents of San Diego who die prematurely each year, there is no question in my mind these immoral city policies against unhoused people played a role in Michael’s untimely death at the age of 72. Michael was forced to skip meals or skimp on medicine to pay for tickets. He needed to be constantly hiding or dodging the police, which took a toll on himself,” Menasche said.
Menasche read aloud from Bloom’s deposition transcript where he told city attorneys: “I want them to stop using the law to beat people up. It’s awful, it’s oppressive, it’s disgusting. They give tickets to people I love, you know.”
Battaglia certified the class this month to include “all persons in the city of San Diego who used, use, or will use an RV or other vehicle as their only form of shelter, anywhere, at any time, after Nov. 15, 2017.”
A case management conference in the class action is scheduled for July 16.
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