Portlanders Caught Selling a “Hazardous” RV Could Face a $500 Fine or Six Months in Jail

RVs on the Portland streets, by the numbers.

650
The Portland Bureau of Transportation's "rough estimate" of the total number of RVs on Portland streets with people living in them, based on calls to a city hotline, reports from police, and PBOT parking enforcement.

156
Number of RVs towed by the city since Jan. 1. Roughly 100 of these were towed since May under the city's new tow program for occupied, hazardous RVs.

$1,500
The estimated cost to dismantle an RV legally. Calls to four local junk yards and auto salvages Oct. 16 found no one willing to take an old, nonworking RV—even for money. "I'm not interested—no sir," said Oregon & A to Z Auto Wrecking.

$300
What John Maher charged.

$500 or six months in jail
The potential penalty for selling a "hazardous" RV under a new Portland policy passed by the City Council on Oct. 4.

Oct. 29
The date of the city's RV Disposal Turn-In Day, at which it will take residents' old campers off their hands, free of charge, at Portland International Raceway.