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Seattle allows, by code, living aboard boats. The "liveaboards" have their own advocacy groups. The people range from scruffy sorts in decrepit boats to well-paid professionals in million-dollar sailboats.
Within sight of one of the more desirable marinas (where many liveaboards reside) are old motorhomes and the like occupied by people who, by "living aboard" those land vehicles, are in technical violation of local code. It's legal to sleep in a motor vehicle, and it's legal to eat in a motor vehicle, and there's no prohibition on bathing in a motor vehicle. But it's not legal to live in a motor vehicle. So the authorities and the people living in their old motorhomes play a game. It's not legal to leave a vehicle parked in the same spot for some number of days (it's been awhile since I've looked into it), so the cops bang on the sides of the motorhomes and tell the occupants it's time to move along.
Me, I'd welcome motorhome havens, with "shore power" and coin-op showers and laundry facilities, as are found at the marinas serving the liveaboards. The resistance to such a thing is mostly class based. Living aboard boats has a certain cachet, and the waterborne are generally better educated, more politically savvy, and much more well-to-do than their land-based counterparts, and as such they are seen as more desirable neighbors. And in some ways, maybe they are. But the code that allows for living aboard a boat but not a motorhome has very little to do with public safety.
Seattle allows, by code, living aboard boats. The "liveaboards" have their own advocacy groups. The people range from scruffy sorts in decrepit boats to well-paid professionals in million-dollar sailboats.
Within sight of one of the more desirable marinas (where many liveaboards reside) are old motorhomes and the like occupied by people who, by "living aboard" those land vehicles, are in technical violation of local code. It's legal to sleep in a motor vehicle, and it's legal to eat in a motor vehicle, and there's no prohibition on bathing in a motor vehicle. But it's not legal to live in a motor vehicle. So the authorities and the people living in their old motorhomes play a game. It's not legal to leave a vehicle parked in the same spot for some number of days (it's been awhile since I've looked into it), so the cops bang on the sides of the motorhomes and tell the occupants it's time to move along.
Me, I'd welcome motorhome havens, with "shore power" and coin-op showers and laundry facilities, as are found at the marinas serving the liveaboards. The resistance to such a thing is mostly class based. Living aboard boats has a certain cachet, and the waterborne are generally better educated, more politically savvy, and much more well-to-do than their land-based counterparts, and as such they are seen as more desirable neighbors. And in some ways, maybe they are. But the code that allows for living aboard a boat but not a motorhome has very little to do with public safety.
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