Re “Sahli-Wells Avoids Saying Yes or No”
Going into this evening’s 6:45 student-based Ask2Know candidates forum at West Los Angeles College, arguably the easiest question of the campaign remains unanswered by presumably the most experienced candidate in the field.
Where does City Councilperson Meghan Sahli-Wells stand on rent control? For? Against?
She was the only one of the seven City Council contenders who flatly declined to answer this question Monday evening at a forum sponsored by the apartment owners association.
Instead, Ms. Sahli-Wells carefully delivered a rambling response. Boldly, she avoided a yes or no answer that the emcee had requested.
Five of her six opponents stood against rent control, fellow liberal Daniel Lee being the single exception.
Why has she historically refused to identify her convictions on this popular question? At a Council discussion on rent control on Dec. 8, 2014, Ms. Sahli-Wells spoke for 10 minutes about what she was against, pointedly refusing to pin a name on what she supported.
Why?
Ms. Sahli-Wells kept repeating “we need to find a way to protect renters’ rights.”
Obviously she is uncomfortable saying “I favor this specific form of rent control.”
To this point, she has exclusively leaned on euphemisms for rent control instead of confessing her position.
“The specter of rent control has gotten a lot of attention,” she said in 2014. “I’m not in favor of classic rent control. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t other means of phasing in rent stabilization.”
Fifteen months ago, and again Monday evening, Ms. Sahli-Wells alluded to “protection for renters from aggressive, extreme increases that we’ve seen,” by all accounts a rare occurrence in Culver City.
On multiple occasions, she has said she is “not in favor of classic 1970s rent control,” a convenient stance since state laws make that impossible.
Said a woman in the audience Monday at the apartment owners forum: “If you take all that Meghan said in their totality, you would have to conclude she is in favor of some form of rent control.
“She believes the playing field is tilted in the landlords’ favor. For political reasons with Election Day still ahead, she does not want to say that. Something needs to happen to help tenants, a version of rent control. But she cannot say that today.”
