(See pdf here.)
With the previously forbidden subject of rent control having surfaced late in the Culver City summer when two sudden deaths forced the concept to be taken public, the Landlord Tenant Mediation Board has hovered into view, possibly for the first time in history.
Board appointees are lucky to get their names into print following their selections at a City Council meeting in June. Following a period of extended invisibility, they are next seen being thanked for their service.
Who are these people?
More precisely, what are the parameters for Council members to choose certain landlords and certain tenants, and then the whopper of all, at-large members?
Probably for the first time since the Landlord Tenant Mediation Board was born, the guidelines for selecting participants is published – possibly the public debut of these parameters – at the bottom of this report.
The question of particular membership arises this afternoon because at least one member’s credentials do not appear – by 10 miles – to fit inside the clear specifications.
How did this member leak through?
If the Chosen Nine ostensibly are non-partisan, why must three of each species be selected?
Is there any distinction between this and seeking an equal number of white and black jurors in a case where racism is at the center?
• If everybody is neutral, who cares if a juror is purple?
If tenants and landlords equally scorn bigotry, why not drop the charade and named nine landlords – or nine tenants – to the Landlord Tenant Mediation Board?
The reason, of course, is that partisanship burns brightly in the breasts of many – By giving huge weight to external considerations, this overtly would free the selectors of bias charges.
If everyone is drop-dead impartial, why insist on a tenant member or a land-owning member?
Is a rent-minded landowner truly going to consider a tenant’s beef without bias?
That pill may be too large to travel through anyone’s esophagus.
Are members chosen randomly?
Haphazardly?
Or with a specific agenda in mind?
Next: An inspection of the credentials of one member.
