In the Guest Commentary by Cami Corvin (Sentinel, June 27, “RTC targeting seniors with displacement”), the author made numerous factual misstatements and false accusations against the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC). Her baseless attack on the integrity of the RTC is unacceptable.

I know the author, and I empathize with her in her unfortunate predicament. I wish I didn’t have to respond, but this sort of public contumely is repugnant, and no one else is better informed in this matter than I am.

Her problem, and that of her neighbors, is that their personal property — fences, sheds, and, in five cases, parts of their mobile homes — illegally encroach on the public railroad corridor owned by the RTC and must be removed. It’s not the residents’ fault, since they rent their spaces, nor is it the RTC’s fault. Their landlord should be held responsible, not the RTC.

Eighteen months ago, the RTC required the removal of the encroaching structures. Those were not “threatening letters.” It is the RTC’s public duty to remove any encroachments that hinder public use of the railroad corridor.

The author’s mobile home doesn’t encroach on the railroad corridor. Her storage shed encroaches by a foot; so does her back fence, by 3 to 4 feet. Her home’s placement does not meet the standard building setback requirement, but that’s not the RTC’s concern.

The RTC’s survey identifying the encroachments was not “a boundary survey.” The location of the relevant boundary on the ground was previously surveyed and has been a matter of public record for decades.

It is a falsehood that “the RTC’s own title report acknowledged encroachments.” I wrote that title report. Standard title insurance does not cover encroachments. The title to public land cannot be affected by private encroachments.

It is not true that the encroachments … “exist with approval from HUD, the county, and the City of Capitola.” Mobile home parks are regulated by the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD), not HUD, the city or the county. There is an affordable housing agreement with the city; however, the landlord, not the residents, is responsible for compliance.

It is a gross exaggeration to suggest that the costs for removing the encroaching structures will be enormous, “running into millions of dollars.”

Furthermore, it is false that “an upscale condominium complex on 41st Avenue … also encroaches on RTC property.” The buildings there, closest to the RTC boundary, are 16 feet, three inches from the centerline of the railroad tracks. That’s three inches away from the boundary. There are no encroachments there. Based on this misrepresentation, the author asks: “Why are only senior mobile home residents being threatened, while wealthy condo owners are left alone?” The RTC is not “engaging in selective, inequitable enforcement … targeting vulnerable communities while sparing more powerful ones.” It’s outrageous to say so.

The author stated that unnamed “legal experts” claim “that these homes have a right to remain.” That is wrong. I am such an expert, and I can attest that, as a matter of law, there is never any right for encroachments to remain on public land.

She vehemently denounced the RTC, falsely accusing it of “selective enforcement,” “negligence,” “institutional discrimination and elder abuse,” of “planning inequitably, non-transparently, and inhumanely,” of “sacrificing the community,” of actions that are “legally indefensible,” of “putting elderly residents at risk of dislocation and financial ruin,” and acting based on “the size of someone’s bank account or the age of their roof.” That gratuitous, insulting diatribe was wildly unwarranted.

The residents should hold their landlord accountable for the costs of complying with the lawful requirements of the RTC. It is inappropriate and unhelpful to demonize the RTC, its commissioners, and its staff, or to engage in a senseless political campaign against established public transportation policy.

Jim Weller is a Capitola resident and frequent contributor to this page on issues regarding rail and trail.