For all of the high-technology that underpins the daily life of Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells, the communication that Eve and Adam Smith-Jones favored in the Eden Garden during Year One still is her preferred method.
In scoring a personally important policy victory Monday night, winning a slim vote to extend “indefinitely” the almost-broke Rental Assistance Program, she was reminded that face-to-face testimony beats Facebook and their latter-day cousins for sheer effectiveness.
Listening intently to about a dozen and a half speakers advocating continuation of housing assistance for the needy – by some creative financing – Ms. Sahli-Wells wrote down comments to make a deeper imprint on her already compassionate mind.
“Hearing directly from people in the RAP program really shows you why we need to prioritize this subject,” said the mayor. “Their appearance at the Council meeting made it more meaningful.”
Yet it was the owner of an apartment building with both Section 8 tenants and families from Culver City’s RAP program who may have helped swing the Council vote the mayor’s way.
“The owner wasn’t planning on speaking,” Ms. Sahli-Wells said. “Since no landlords or landladies had spoken, she wanted to make sure a voice was heard on behalf of people renting out these apartments.
“She said her relationship with our Housing Dept. was excellent. They are very responsive. She also talked her negative experience as an apartment owner in Los Angeles because of the way the programs were administered.
“Culver City’s program was exceptional, she said. She wanted to share, on a personal level, how valuable her tenants were to her.”
Listening to the speakers, said Ms. Sahli-Wells, “gave us a nice snapshot of the people this program serves.”
And it may have swayed the final vote in the mayor’s direction.
(To be continued)
