RV residents chased from Sports Arena parking lots

As authorities in beach areas and on Shelter Island have been cracking down on prolonged parking of motor-homes, some of those RV residents have migrated to the Sports Arena area’s parking lots.

However, businesses — particularly in the Target/Ralphs shopping-center parking lots along the 3200 block of Sports Arena Boulevard — have 24-hour security guards. Transient residents are finding that they aren’t welcome to homestead the asphalt there.

I watched this week as a security guard spent a long time talking to an RV resident who had his dog running loose near his motor home. The security guard eventually managed to wrangle the man's dog back into the vehicle and the owner soon drove off.

Later, the same guard had to warn a well-dressed, self-described "veteran" for trespassing when the man hit up Target shoppers for money as they exited the store.

I questioned the guard later on in front of Target. He acknowledged the frustration of having to continually chase off "a constant parade of RV's and homeless.”