First in a series
[img]1307|right|Meghan Sahli-Wells||no_popup[/img]Used to be called rent control in the pretty old days.
Now labeled rent stabilization, it probably will be sizzling topic No. 1 in Culver City in the late summer, nearly a year after the rent control flame initially was extinguished.
Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells, who has delivered as forcefully as her progressive base had hoped when she won office in April, unquestionably will be the strongest trumpeter on the dais in September when rent stabilization is due to reach the City Council agenda.
To curtail the suspense early, Ms. Sahli-Wells was explicit this morning in declaring first what she does not want.
“I am not looking to do a 1970s’-style of rent control,” she said.
Opposed to uniformly capping rent increases – the essence of rent control – the mayor favors a program “that is our own Culver City model.”
Her suggestion: Empower the 30-year-old Landlord Tenant Mediation Board, which historically has had a lower profile than the fabric of City Manager John Nachbar’s sox.
Give teeth to the Board’s rulings. Make their verdicts compulsory.
Presently, the Landlord Tenant Mediation Board – the antithesis of a gassed-up group – only possesses the authority to summon a landlord and his tenants to a meeting when a dispute arises.
Once the principals are on the premises, Landlord Tenant Mediation Board members – once characterized as “sleepy” — may resume stuffing their hands in their pockets.
Change may take place at the pace of molasses in February.
First Mayor Sahli-Wells hopes to effect change gradually and deeply across the community by calling a series of workshops, soliciting imaginative but pragmatic concepts.
“I know so many families at the mercy of their landlords,” she said.
Briefly the mayor alluded to last summer’s infamous cases where two Culver City landlords jacked up their rents 100 percent and one tenant from each building subsequently died.
“They were probably sick anyway,” was one City Hall regular’s salty response.
(To be continued)
