First of two parts
[img]2122|right|Mehaul OLeary||no_popup[/img]It would be rash at this hour to call City Councilman Mehaul O’Leary an outright ally of pro-rent control forces. But his arrow appears to be aimed in that general direction.
At last night’s joint meeting of the City Council and Planning Commission, Mr. O’Leary unequivocally declared his unalloyed sympathy for recently besieged renters, especially for the survivors of two tenants who died after learning their rent would be hugely jumped.
He now widens his sympathy – in the form of financial help – to include peoples on fixed incomes. He also criticized the city’s Landlord/Tenant Mediation Board for striking “ineffective” resolutions. Throughout September, Mr. O’Leary has been exploring the pathways and vagaries of rent control. If his thoughts are not fully formed yet, the month only is half over.
He never directly mentioned the words “rent control.” However, he surrounded it.
“I am not interested in government control of rent,” Mr. O’Leary told the newspaper this morning.
“I am, however, interested in learning if there is a category for a group of people who would have an option if they are displaced, say, for market reasons or because of a change of ownership of their apartment complex.
“There should be some way we can help them get at least enough money for a deposit for a new place and the ability to move to a new place with a similar rent – wherever that may be. It could be as far away as San Bernardino.”
His Main Target
Turning toward “renters who have fixed incomes, usually are elderly with a Social Security check, of some form of retirement check. Their fixed incomes will follow them to wherever their new address is.
“For me,” said Mr. O’Leary, “it is a matter of keeping the costs the same for these people.”
The sixth-year Councilman said he has examined the solutions reached by the Landlord/Tenant Mediation Board, “and they just don’t seem reasonable.” The board often is criticized, away from public view, for its perceived toothlessness.
“They don’t seem effective, either. For example, one of their solutions was ‘no rent increase for six months’ to give the person time to put enough savings together. But for fixed income people, the current rent just barely gets covered. I don’t see how you are going to help tenants save any money by not increasing the rent for a limited time.
“If they had no money before a rent increase, how in the hell could they save money by not having a rent increase for a certain period?
“I look at those two people who died after their rents were raised. Their deaths could have been related to that.”
What Is to Become of Them?
Building momentum for his new way of thinking, “I would hate to think we have left a part of our community behind,” Mr. O’Leary said, “because everyone is moving on and we want to have a nicer community.
“This brings back memories of when I first landed in New York City (in the late 1980s from Ireland), and I lived in a social welfare hotel. On certain evenings when I would come home from work, there would be a lady, dressed in a gown, sitting on the staircase. At times, she would be incontinent. But she was waiting for somebody to pick her up.
“In retrospect, this lady was unstable. She may have been an Old Manhattan aristocrat. Obviously outlived her family. Didn’t have any friends. As I looked back, I wasn’t equipped, or old enough, to do anything at the time to help her.
“It has stuck in my mind for many years. What is going on here today,” said Mr. O’Leary, “brought back that memory.
“Are we just going to walk over these people?
“They expected to live out the golden years of their lives in a safe, secure environment. They have no options,” he said in an almost pleading tone.
“It is a small portion of our community that I want to see if we can facilitate a little piece of the puzzle, the onetime dollar that will get them from Point A to Point B to continue their lives.”
Would Mr. O’Leary find an expansion of his sympathy plan acceptable?
“Yes,” he answered, “and now I want to see if any of my colleagues on the Council have the kind of empathy for people in that situation.”
Vice Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells emphatically agrees with Mr. O’Leary, and her views will be explored next.
(To be continued)
