First in a series
[img]1305|right|Andy Weissman||no_popup[/img]In the 96-year history of Culver City, the principle of rent control seems never to have raised its pretty head – or its ugly head – depending on your perspective.
Dialing forward a handful of decades, the prospect of rent control for multi-family buildings in Culver City has not reached the dais at City Hall since Santa Monica made it wildly popular at the end of the 1970s.
Drilling deeper, City Councilman Andy Weissman said this afternoon that rent control has not been a community talking point since the Landlord-Tenant Mediation Board was organized in the 1980s.
That is a Great Wall of China-sized impediment for a hardy group of activists who are hoping to turn history upside after two tenants suddenly died this summer after being notified their rent was being multiplied.
Mr. Weissman became the latest Councilman to empathize with friends and families who suffered the losses – but this is not budging him from his firmly held convictions.
As with all but one of his Council colleagues, and speaking as a civic leader whose service dates to the 1980s, a position on rent control is a matter of conviction, not whimsy.
• He declares it is bad policy.
• In a community where he estimates the proportion of renters to be between 25 and 40 percent, he is convinced it would discourage development of new multi-family buildings.
In next week’s installments, Mr. Weissman will explore how and why he has reached these conclusions.
(To be continued)
