Did You Know? Bonnie Donovan
“Democracy is based upon the conviction there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people.”
— Harry Emerson Fosdick
The Santa Barbara City Council will be back Tuesday after it had another paid week off for the election.
Several important decisions are slated to be made Tuesday. One is to vote against the very people providing the No. 1 thing the city claims we desperately need — rental housing. Local developers, do you really want to build rental housing in Santa Barbara?
Pay attention on Tuesday during the council meeting, where members will vote on rent control.
Rent control is now defined as “… the lease must be renewed, and it must be at the same rate. …”
Additionally, when a landlord chooses not to renew the lease or to rent out the property, for whatever reason — sick relative, renovation or putting the property on the market — the landlord must pay relocation fees equal to two months of rent to the tenant. No matter what the reason.
Although the city’s Marston Study recommends a relocation fee equivalent to one and a half months of rent, the city took it upon itself to increase the amount awarded the tenant right out of the landlord’s pocket!
Who in their right mind would engage in the rental business with these stipulations foisted upon the owner by our “generous” City Council? Developers, take note: How will this pencil out?
But wait, there’s more.
Talk about voting and elections, in spite of the fact that the citizens voted against rent control during one of the recent elections, here is the city ignoring the voice of the people and insisting on their way of serving their friends, the Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, and other special constituents.
And more aggravating is that for over a year, the stakeholders — the renters, the landlords, their respective representatives — and a mediator negotiated an agreement that was amenable to both sides.
That work has been ignored. Yet like many who will not take “no” for an answer, the city is again at the table with a backyard deal, only this time the tenants’ associations, CAUSE etc., are requesting four to five times the amount of the monthly rent for the tenants’ relocation fee.
“The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people’s money. …”
— Margaret Thatcher
The Santa Barbara City Council beats the drum that developers cannot build housing because it is not cost effective. Tuesday, the city council will revisit this mandatory one-year lease. After meeting with the CAUSE, council members finally have what they wanted all along: rent control.
They now say with this mandatory one-year lease, that you also must offer it to the tenant continuously, year after year! On top of that, you must NOT increase the rent!
Is this why the city is talking about raising the building heights above 60 feet? Is this just another smoke and mirrors, and quick, quick, quick, get it done before anyone notices?
“I went to sleep in Santa Barbara and woke up in Marina Del Rey.”
After the election results, all the voices for decency and constraint where our teens are concerned — were voted down — Teen Talk vs. the HEART program.
Over and over, our abysmal school ratings were debated. However, education really does not appear to be that important!
If the same players are re-elected, how can it be anything different than the status quo? Of course, the devotees are still following their marching orders, and their message continues to dictate the narrative.
That is what you voted for in Santa Barbara.
Again, we used to protect our youth and protect the students from oversexualized instruction. Modesty, chastity and the classic reading, writing and arithmetic, teaching real history (not the rewritten version) and the motto of “Honor family and country” — all passé?
How is that working for Western civilization? Society is seeing rampant teen depression, increased teen suicides, sexual identity crises, neglect of instruction in character and a decrease in traditional spiritual values.
However, Did You Know? believes in the ultimate power and intelligence of the American spirit.
We believe this will work out in the end and America will return to the values that DO make America great.
