Macrofortification

A couple decades ago I saw a presentation at the National Building Museum by Camilo José Vergara, who specializes in photographing urban decay, showing photos of Los Angeles, including what he called "micro-fortification" of housings around pipes and stuff.  

He was very critical, arguing it demonstrated a grim, anti-people approach.

I said that it wasn't about being mean but about reducing vandalism and theft.

The Seattle Times has an article, "Illegally placed concrete blocks have taken over public parking in Seattle. Why are they there?," about guerilla public safety protection measures, where people (business and residents) and placing one and two ton concrete blocks in parking spaces, to prevent large scale use by homeless RV operators.

Flowers brighten one in a line of ecology blocks on South Homer Street in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood in May. People living in RVs are having a harder time finding parking because of the illegally placed barriers. (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times)

Yes it's illegal.  But it's an indicator that present laws, regulations, and public safety enforcement and protection systems aren't working, when citizens are driven to extrajudicial measures such as these.

Joe Ingram, right, with the Interfaith Task Force on Homelessness, offers his services to Seattle parking enforcement officers as they place notices on RVs parked in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood. Ingram does vehicle residency outreach. (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times)

The solution is creating RV camps.  Seattle has done that with tents, but there have been problems too. It wouldn't be a great solution, it would require 24 hour on site management, but it would get people off the street.  At the same time, laws would have to be changed to disallow such vehicles to be on the street for more than 12 hours, in order to "force" them into RV sites.

RVs line South Hardy Street next to Ruby Chow Park in Seattle’s Georgetown neighborhood in May. The city told the nearly two dozen RV dwellers they had to move but with parking scarce homeless residents wondered where they could go. (Steve Ringman / The Seattle Times)

Plus they'd have to be required to do basic clean up maintenance.  The way that the areas become extremely degraded because of lack of care and sanitation around the RVs now is why people are up in arms.