A non-functioning RV gets towed to a safe lot in February. (Don O'Neill, KIRO Radio)

When the idea of RV safe lots seemingly came out of nowhere, the City of Seattle seemed awfully confident that this was a great idea.
To the city’s credit, Mayor Ed Murray and his office didn’t pretend it was a long term solution, but they routinely touted the plan as a great short-term solution to help address a long-ignored problem. But it seems like they didn’t put much thought into it.

Related: This is how much it cost to run an RV safe lot in Seattle

We learned that the Ballard RV safe lot costs more than $35,000 each month to operate. That is pricey when you consider only about 20 vehicles can fit on the site. And there’s no requirement that the vehicles come from the community complaining the most about the errant RV’s on the sides of its streets.

It’s been so pricey the city has nixed the plans for the other RV safe lot in Delridge that would have served about 10 vehicles.

I can think of much better ways to spend the money, like Tiny Homes that come with one-time fees of $2,200. The recurring costs are subsidized by residents paying a $90 a month fee for utilities, which also incentivizes the residents to get jobs.

So where does this leave us?

With the not-so-shocking realization that the city didn’t fully vet this idea. It appears that they rushed it out to address a concern of angry neighbors. It was a panic move.

How is it a shocker that this is so expensive? They knew going in much of the recurring costs. Didn’t they study this in any meaningful way? And why promise two sites if you didn’t properly vet the idea? And if you did properly vet the idea, who will be taking responsibility for how wrong they were?

And everyone pointed out the flaw in this plan from the start: there was no reason to have this lot in a densely populated neighborhood. They could have just as easily pushed this idea in Interbay and SoDo (as I’ve suggested for months) where they’re zoned for extended stay RVs. Maintaining those zones cost just over $5,000 a month.
So what’s the next move? Hopefully not another panicked response.