solsprack wrote:
I will assume the OP isn't a troll, but I might be wrong.
I recommend the OP considers finding another place to go. California is a very hostile place to live these days unless you are making over $100,000 a year, or you have a sizable nest egg. Someone living out of a van might have made it there before 2008, but now, you will just end up a victim by street punks, or the target of police aggression.
Here is a fact that you may not know: A number of states have made a deal with private prisons to keep all beds at 90% full or else pay fines on a daily basis. This means that police, DAs, and judges are forced to toss people in the clink or their job is at risk. The true mentally ill are not wanted in jail, because they cost too much. A vandweller whom is trying to eke out an honest living, and who plays by the rules is their perfect target, because they can keep arresting them, and they "store quietly". Plus, the van and the belongings inside will sell at auction for good money once it gets seized and impounded.
It sucks, but seriously consider leaving California. There are better places in the US to go. Arizona is a decent state. Texas is a state that has jobs virtually everywhere. With a PhD, you can find work -somewhere-. Even New York state is having a boom.
End of lecture, apologies for the digression. However, I know people who tried vandwelling in the Bay Area or any coastal part of CA, and invariably it doesn't turn out well.
What is this police aggression nonsense.... I have no idea where you got your info... Possibly conjured from someplace that nobody has heard of... Maybe we should start a thread where a few of us can align you with reality...
As for the OP.. She sounds like a sharp girl trying to live with what she has... Hats off to her.
