After the Mountain View City Council voted to approve a controversial ban of oversized vehicles on some streets in the Silicon Valley hub, housing advocates were collecting signatures on Wednesday to allow voters to decide the issue, instead.
The Council voted Tuesday night to approve ordinances barring the vehicles — like RVs, campers, trailers and motor homes — from parking on narrow streets and in bike lanes, citing traffic and public safety concerns.
Opponents said the pair of measures would impose a de facto total ban on the vehicles in Mountain View, a community made up of many small streets. Mayor Lisa Matichak didn’t return KQED requests for comment about the ordinances and their impact.
The bike lane ordinance takes effect in 30 days, while the narrow street ordinance takes effect on June 30, 2020.
Lenny Siegel, the former mayor of Mountain View, said he was part of an effort to collect signatures for a referendum on an upcoming ballot, likely November 2020. Volunteers canvassed for signatures at a Caltrain station in the city’s downtown on Wednesday morning, holding clipboards with signs reading, “Stop the RV ban.”
“The city’s policy on motor homes is intolerant, inhumane, impractical, unconstitutional and now that you’ve got the narrow streets associated with it, dishonest,” Siegel said Tuesday at the City Council meeting.
“A lot of people in Mountain View consider people living in motor homes to be our neighbors,” he added. “Let’s figure out a way for them to do it right rather than just throwing them out.”
