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Yesica Prado

@pradoreports.bsky.social
11 followers 12 following 9 posts

Bilingual Investigative Reporter & Photojournalist @eltecolotesf.bsky.social |📩 yesica@eltecolote.org | Read my reporting: muckrack.com/yesica-prado-2

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Yesica Prado @pradoreports.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
The core failure: San Francisco is enforcing rules that are impossible to follow, based on data it knows is flawed, without the infrastructure to help. Advocates say it's a policy that criminalizes basic human needs. 🔎Read the full investigation: eltecolote.org/content/en/s...
eltecolote.org
SF’s RV towing blitz has begun. These are its biggest failures
San Francisco’s RV towing has begun. Internal records show shifting rules, scant infrastructure and hundreds of families at risk.
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Yesica Prado @pradoreports.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
The city is moving fast to tow. A draft budget allocates $560,000 for enforcement. Yet when asked to explain the budget, lack of a grace period amid policy changes, or the criteria for the vehicle count, the Mayor's Office and the Department of Emergency Management did not provide comment.
A draft budget for the enforcement costs of the "Large Vehicle Refuge Permit" obtained by El Tecolote in September 2025.
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Yesica Prado @pradoreports.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Even those with permits aren't safe from other parking rules. Every day, Marlon comes home from work & checks if his RV has been cited or towed. He has lived in San Francisco for decades, but the new policy offers no refuge at all. “I have to keep moving,” he said. “I have no other choice.”
Marlon Arostegui stands outside his RV in the Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco, Calif., on Oct. 2, 2025. Photo: Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote / CatchLight Local
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Yesica Prado @pradoreports.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
The permit itself is conditional. To get one, you must agree to accept the first offer of shelter/housing. Refuse, and your permit is revoked. But only 150 new slots were created for RV residents despite hundreds of people being found in May. The math doesn't add up.
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Yesica Prado @pradoreports.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
The city’s “Good Neighbor” rules of the permit also require something that doesn’t exist in San Francisco: a public dump station. Without it, RV residents face impossible choices: drive miles to dispose of waste, pay costly private services, or lose their permits and homes.
An RV displays a Large Vehicle Refuge Permit along John Muir Drive on October 9, 2025. Photo by Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local
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Yesica Prado @pradoreports.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Who gets left out? Our reporting found entire groups excluded from permits, including: -People who recently arrived, fleeing immigration raids -Those with inoperable or unregistered RVs -Long-time residents not counted in May -Rent RVs while seeking housing. -Don't have a title.
A line of RVs is parked along John Muir Drive in the Lake Merced neighborhood. Photo by Pablo Unzueta for El Tecolote/CatchLight Local
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Yesica Prado @pradoreports.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
Internal city documents reveal chaos. City staff on proof of residency for the permit: “How far are we willing to go?” Another wrote: “I have a receipt from lunch in another city last weekend, but I don’t know if that should make me eligible for housing there.”
An internal draft of the appeal process from the SFMTA for the "Large Vehicle Refuge Permit."
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Yesica Prado @pradoreports.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
The city promised refuge. Instead, we found a program built on broken promises & shaky data. In June, the Mayor’s office told the SFMTA Board that towing would only start AFTER all outreach was done and permits were issued. Yet, enforcement began Nov. 5 with only a fraction of households permitted.
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Yesica Prado @pradoreports.bsky.social · 11/11/2025
NEW: San Francisco’s “compassionate” RV permit program is failing the people it promised to help. A months-long investigation by @eltecolotesf.bsky.social reveals a rushed, chaotic rollout, leaving hundreds at risk of losing their homes.🧵 Here’s what we found: bit.ly/47LB1sc
bit.ly
SF’s RV towing blitz has begun. These are its biggest failures
San Francisco’s RV towing has begun. Internal records show shifting rules, scant infrastructure and hundreds of families at risk.
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