Have you seen the commercial where the Old Geezer from the AARP peers into the camera and urges in Tuesday’s election, implying that old people living in rent-controlled apartments would be tossed out into the street by greedy landlords.
“Prop. 98 is a landlord scheme that’s bad for renters, homeowners and taxpayers,” concludes the AARP huckster.
What he doesn’t tell you is that Prop. 98 does not end rent control immediately.
Rent control would continue to exist for current tenants as long as they remain in their apartments or mobile
homes. Only when people move out would rent controls be removed.
The independent Legislative Analyst’s office has concluded that “many governments would have
net increased costs to acquire property…”
Exactly.
They would have to pay fair market value for people’s homes, farmland and businesses. They wouldn’t be able to take property the way the
state did in 1954 when they built the Santa Monica Freeway and obliterate entire neighborhoods.
Here Came Hughes
Cotner Avenue in West Los Angeles is a prime example of what is wrong with eminent domain in California. Cotner was a quiet middle class residential street until Howard Hughes persuaded the politicians to move the San Diego Freeway route from near Lincoln Boulevard,
east to West Los Angeles.
My grandparents had a lovely home on 3/4 of an acre on Cotner
where they had lived since 1919. Forced to move from their home and they were paid a paltry $19,000 for the property.
Cotner was never used for the freeway.
Two of the avocado trees on their property still are standing, but Cotner Avenue became an industrial park.
Two blocks down from where my grandparents home stood on Cotner is a “gentleman’s club,” advertising
free lap dances from noon to 6 p.m.
Vote “yes” on Prop. 98.
