Freedom for Darlene Owsianny is wrapped up in a used, 23-foot motorhome where she lives with her adult son while parked on a dusty side street in an industrial strip of south Longmont.
The 76-year-old Owsianny parks there most of the time because she and her RV have been shooed away from nearly every other neighborhood in Longmont. Owsianny has a plastic bag full of tickets warning her to move her RV down the road or face a fine for breaking Longmont’s 48-hour limit on sleeper homes parking on public streets.
“You can’t park by homes, you can’t park near a school, you can’t park here, you can’t park there,” Owsianny said. “There are plenty of people in town who don’t want us around. But I am not going to change.
“I can come and go as I please, I have the freedom to go wherever I want,” she said.
Owsianny said she may have to leave Longmont if the city moves ahead with a new ordinance banning RVs and other sleeper vehicles from public rights-of-way.
The decision would be tough for her since she’s lived in Longmont for 35 years. The last seven years she and her sons have been homeless.
They lived mostly in vans but three years ago she bought the RV for $27,000 and she and one of her sons have since moved from spot to spot in the city to live. It sleeps them both comfortably. Her other two sons live in vans.
One of many warnings Darlene Owsianny has received advising her to move the RV in which she and her son live.(Photo by Monte Whaley)“This is my community, this is where I’ve lived and worked for a long time,” Oswianny said. “I know just about everybody in town and they know me.”
But RV park rents, which can be as much as $900 a month, are too high for her and other RV dwellers to afford, she said.
Living in an RV and trying to keep a low profile within the city is the best option for full-time living, Oswianny said.
“We don’t bother anybody, “ she said. “We clean up after ourselves and we clean up after other RVs. Some people are happy to see us move in next to them, because they know we take care of ourselves.”
Oswianny bristles at the notion of getting help from the city and Boulder County to get into subsidized, low-income housing. Longmont is in talks with the county to allow RV dwellers to park their vehicles at the fairgrounds for three to six months to allow them to move into more stable, transitional housing.
“I don’t want to be told to be in by 6 p.m., or 10 p.m., Oswianny said. “That’s not how I want to live and others don’t want that either.
“I know a guy who lives with three cats, they are his family. What’s he going to do with those cats, if he gives up his RV?”
City officials say they want to create a multi-pronged plan to deal with people living in their RVs. Councilmember Aren Rodriguez in a study session this week said Longmont should explore providing a subsidized spot where RVs could park.
At the same study session, Councilmember Marcia Martin said she is leery of Longmont and Homeless Solutions for Boulder County providing help only to those RV owners who want to move into apartments and similar accommodations.
“I think it’s pretty paternalistic of us … to only provide services to those who want to be like everybody else,” Martin said.
Councilmembers have said the toughened ordinance emerged because many RV owners were irresponsible. The rise of abandoned RVs on city streets may cost Longmont $100,000 this year to tow and demolish, according to a staff report.
City officials said they have fielded complaints from neighborhoods about RV owners dumping waste in city drainage systems and leaving rubbish in their wake.
“If I bought an RV I will make sure to ask ahead of time to find out where I could park it,“ Councilman Tim Waters said. “We all make choices, and we live with the consequences of those choices.”
Owsianny’s RV, she said, is a blessing to her.
“It allows me a good place to live and the freedom and independence I want for myself and my sons. I don’t want anyone to take that away from me.”
