MAN FIGHTS EVICTION AFTER RENT INCREASE FROM $1,800 PER MONTH TO $8,000

ABC13 ^ | Sunday, June 26, 2016 | Vic Lee

[nickcarraway]

A San Francisco man is fighting to stay in his apartment, after his landlord suddenly hiked his rent from $1,800 a month to $8,000.

The tenant has appealed this incredible rent hike to the city, but it may be too late. He may find himself out of his apartment before the city's rent board decides if it's legal or not. One thing is certain -- it's one of the highest rent increases in recent history in San Francisco.

The apartment building sits in the heart of North Beach, on the corner of Columbus and Scotland streets.

[ExNewsExSpook]

One classic rent control story involves the recently-deceased Bill Cunningham, the fashion photographer for The New York Times.

For most of his life, Mr. Cunningham lived in a rent-controlled apartment in the top of Carnegie Hall. It was small and he shared a bathroom with three other tenants. But the rent was only $600 a month, and would never rise as long as he and the other tenants lived there.

A few years back, the building’s owner decided more money could be made by getting the tenants to move out and develop the area into a luxury condos. At one point, they were actually offering the renters $300-$500,000 to leave. If I’m not mistaken, most declined the offer, so the landlord had to wait until they passed to redevelop the space.

[jch10]

Pay up or move out.

[JimRed]

Did rent control suddenly cease in San Fransicko?

[MinuteGal]

Tough rocks.

If this guy chooses to live in the city of fruits and nuts he has to put up with the pits and shells that come with his choice.

Leni

[A CA Guy]

Or the proved increase regarding the cost of taxes as well may be added to rent with city approval.

[roadcat]

Would it really be worth it to pay 10x as much for an apartment in S.F. than somewhere 30 miles N of Detroit?

One word: jobs. And a few words: high-paying jobs.

San Francisco has always had a lot of well-paying jobs in the financial and medical sectors. Now add to that the tech sector that exploded with jobs over the last 35 years, as well as the motion-picture industry growth (lots of film studios moved north from L.A. to S.F., explaining why S.F. figures in a lot of movies). My oldest daughter recently moved out of an apartment in a tony area of S.F. a couple years ago, her $1700 rent was hiked to $3500 for the next tenant. She was pulling down $160K so the rent is affordable. Same goes for the influx of tech workers who see no problem buying $1M homes, they're pulling down high salaries. Mediterranean weather with zero snow, lots of recreational areas and thousands of restaurants, museums, sports venues, fresh produce and seafood locally etc. Can you say the same for Detroit?

[equaviator]

I’m sure she was an asset to her neighborhood and to her employer. However, from what I keep hearing about San Francisco, it’s crazy gay STD-ridden liberal, illegal immigrant criminals, etc., not to mention that it’s so close to the San Andreas fault. Can’t say that about the northern suburbs of Detroit. We get more snow than S.F. and we don’t have the mountain views and all that, but I think people must be getting more bang for their buck here in the Great Lake State.

[cloudmountain]

Maybe he just loves the smell of homeless and rich internet dweebs.

OR, he might love the smell of the fresh, pure, clean air coming in from the Pacific ocean;

OR the westerly winds that come in daily (between 2:00 and 3:00 P.M.) that blow all the smog to Oakland and San Jose;

OR the smell of fresh hot dogs at a Giants baseball game;

OR the sight of doggies and hang gliders at Fort Funston;

OR the fog that keeps away 99.9% of any mosquitoes and flies;

OR the sight of our NAVY steaming in under the Golden Gate Bridge during Fleet Week;

OR the smell of fresh crab and other seafood on Fisherman's Wharf;

OR the sight of the fog rolling in on a warm day, cooling off our heated brows;

OR the sight of the wonder-bridge--GOLDEN GATE Bridge... and all the other bridges in the area:
2. San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge
3. San Mateo-Hayward Bridge
4. Dumbarton Bridge
5. Richhmond-San Rafael Bridge
6. Carquinez Bridge

OR the smell of all the food from the 4,000+ restaurants in San Francisco

OR the outstanding views from Twin Peaks (both day and night) -- July 4th being the BEST of the best views;

OR the interesting sights of Chinatown;

OR the sight of all the sailboats out on the bays during a wonderful, sunny, windy weekend;

OR the views of the area from the myriad of bay cruises;

OR the sightseeing on Alcatraz;

OR the sight and sounds of the seals down at Fisherman's Wharf and/or the Cliff House, begging for food;

OR the world-class San Francisco opera, ballet and symphony to hear and see;

OR the glorious sights and sounds of the BLUE ANGELS who come in every October and "show their stuff."

The "dweebs," as you so cavalierly, detrimentally and dismissively describe them, LIVE in San Francisco and WORK in Silicon Valley, the 'burbs...as there IS no night life down there.
At least the "dweebs," as you so cavalierly, detrimentally and dismissively describe them, HAVE jobs, DO work and pay LOTS of $$$$$$ to the IRS.

**Even the homeless have dwindled down to almost nothing because it is simply TOO COLD for them during most of the year...especially summer. They DO like Los Angeles as it's usually warmer.
Quote from MARK TWAIN: "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco."

The "wet" season is from mid-October to mid-April. You rarely hear of any West Coast baseball game rained out...Padres, Angels, Dodgers, A's and Giants.
The "dry" season is from mid-April to mid-October and the IDIOT weather forecasters in the country always BABBLE on about the California drought because they are TOO STUPID to know the West Coast weather patterns.

A two-bedroom, two-car garage home (all wood) in San Francisco sells for $1.2 MILLION, at the VERY least.

So, YOU are in the minority with your attitude.
However, there really ARE too many people in California and it would be NICE if they went back home to their own neck of the woods. After all they are USED to miserable winters, tornadoes, snow storms, hottern-hell summers, run-down inner cities with high crime rates...and all that good stuff.

The only problem WE had were the nasty crows that killed and ate the local birds, robins, yellow songbirds, blue birds, etc. They never gave the owl or blue jays any crap. My husband got rid of them with his pellet pistol...and now that he has passed I have kept them away with the same, said pellet pistol.
The red-tailed hawks are flying again and all the others are baaaaaacccck...except for the crows. I am READY for'em!

BTW, my husband packed, legally. He taught me to shoot and I did like the little Beretta. One of the posters here told me about a small Glock. I have a small hand for my size so I might try the Glock.
I enjoyed shooting. My husband used a target of bin Laden's face. I could nail that sucker's beard pretty regularly.

Have I missed anything?

[dmz]

Have I missed anything?

<><><><>

LOL.

I think you missed the Magnolia Gastropub and Brewery on Haight Street for one.

And the bar on the Embarcadero that has the infamous wall of taps.

You mentioned Chinatown but not that little Vietnamese joint serving excellent pho just down the street from the great dim sum place (that i don’t know the name of but visit every time I’m in town).

Or the great walk through the park to get from the piers over to the Marina district.

Or the little vintage guitar store just south of Market.

[cloudmountain]

You are correct. My bad.

I also forgot to mention Union Street, the Marina, Golden Gate Park, watching the tourists FREEZE on their Golden Gate Bridge walk...and the Fine Art Museum with its own PERMANENT Rembrandt.

There is also yearly humpback whale watching. And NO, that is NOT at the local Weight Watchers meetings.

[roadcat]

Can’t say that about the northern suburbs of Detroit.

To each, their own. Or home is where the heart is, etc. You hear wrong about SF, probably like I hear bad stereotypes about Detroit being a burned out slum with half the people having fled, and all the good stuff abandoned and decayed. As for SF, much of it has been rebuilt after the 1989 earthquake. Whole new neighborhoods, a new ballpark, new transit links and a new waterfront. The gays are in decline, been leaving over the last 20 years. Being replaced by incoming techs with families of kids. Black population declined from 15 percent to less than 6 percent over last few decades. Crime is down. In most neighborhoods you see lots of baby strollers and kids in parks. The bad elements are largely confined to a few areas - Tenderloin/Civic Center, Bay View/Hunters Point and southeast corner. But even those areas, being the worst of SF, are becoming gentrified and are better than the average neighborhood in cities back east like Philadelphia and Jersey City.

A lot of transplants are here from the midwest, and vow never to go back. Mostly because of the great weather and not having to shovel snow. Plus it's easier to get a job. You're talking about an area 30 miles away from Detroit, where it's probably not as bad as Detroit. You go 10 miles away from SF and the neighborhoods are fantastic (I'm about 10 miles out). So if you're going to compare, do so in relative terms. Detroit is a hellhole, SF is not. Suburbs 30 miles out are not the core to do comparisons. As for my daughter, she left SF for the midwest; she and her husband are creating their own business there from savings - land and buildings are cheaper. But I'm sure she'll miss the venues of California life.

[minnesota_bound]

I guess you need $160,000 a year to think things are affordable to live in San Francisco!

[dmz]

I’m an east coaster, have been to San Francisco 3 times for nearly a week each time.

Later this summer as we drive from Long Beach to Seattle, I told my wife that we’ll need to plan 2 nights in SF. She was, like, why?

Now I have a list.

[roadcat]

You do need money to afford to live there. A brother-in-law living in SF makes about $40,000 a year in a non-professional job but he’s just getting by. He owns his home, bought it in the early 1980s when they were only about $150K, but took out equity loans against it which is why he’s just getting by. Refuses to cash out and live cheaper elsewhere. Living space is the biggest expense in SF, and prices out a lot of folks who can only afford to live in the suburbs where prices are lower the further east you go. My daughter worked as a manager in the medical tech/genetics field, which is very big in SF and the area. Also a growing field, dozens of new buildings popping up.

[867V309]

Have I missed anything?

Yes, why you're so defensive of a liberal cesspool like frisco.

[equaviator]

“But I’m sure she’ll miss the venues of California life.”

And if I ever visit California, I would probably want to see it all. Not in a single trip but maybe just one region at a time.

[roadcat]

And if I ever visit California, I would probably want to see it all.

Careful, I painted a nice picture, but there are places you don't want to be! Another daughter of mine lived in Oakland for a few years. It is stereotyped, just like SF. The flatlands of Oakland near the bay shore are bad, bad, bad. The hills are upscale wonderful neighborhoods with upscale restaurants and shops. That daughter lived in an extremely nice tony area of Oakland with a vibrant nightlife, but commuted on the streets through slums to her job in nice Emeryville a few miles away. The Oakland slums are a place you don't want to see. Same goes for areas of Richmond, Fremont, etc. Talk to locals before sight-seeing. I have sisters in wine country some 60 miles north of SF, lots of nice things up there but also a few bad areas nearby, stark differences between rich and poor. Same goes for going south of SF, like Half Moon Bay, Santa Cruz, Monterey and Carmel. Lots of things to see and do there. Anywhere along the coastal highway/beaches is safe and nice. Inland is different, relatively safe but lots of Spanish stations on the radio if you catch the drift.

[cloudmountain]

I’m an east coaster, have been to San Francisco 3 times for nearly a week each time.
Later this summer as we drive from Long Beach to Seattle, I told my wife that we’ll need to plan 2 nights in SF. She was, like, why?
Now I have a list.

GREAT. Your wife wouldn't want to freeze her butt off either, which she would do on the west coast during the, like, summer. I mean the ocean, of course.

When you hit the beaches in southern California, you'll see that only children are IN the water, playing. It's fifty-five degrees in the heat of the summer.
The millions of sunbathers are safely ON THE BEACH. They may wet their toofies up to the ankles or knees but not any farther.

The water doesn't warm up until Mazatlan. And it's 82 degrees down there. The west coast Pacific ocean is COLD.

I hope you like motels and/or sleeping in your car. Motels will bust the budget. Hotels? Forget it.

I visited the southeast corner of Canada, New England and then ended up in New York. I LOVED it all. Boston is really a great place. I wouldn't care for the winters, though. We lived in Chicago when I was a girl and ALL I remember is the COLD winter, which SEEMED to last a long time.

[cloudmountain]

Good link, thanks. It explains what can happen. A single tenant in the building falls under a different law, allowing large rent increases. After a secondary tenant moves out, the landlord removes the second unit making it storage space or a garage etc., allowing the building to become single tenant occupied. Makes sense. Your link describes the building being in Bernal Heights in SF. That's where I lived 60 years ago. My parents bought their house in the early 1950s for $6,000 fully furnished with chinaware and silverware, putting $100 down. Same house now goes for $1.5 million. Used to be a blue collar neighborhood, until an influx of yuppies in the mid-1970s gentrified the neighborhood.

Thanks for that information.
Did you home have a good view?
Most of the bay area was blue collar. Our family was. It was also 100% union.
With gentification...everything did change.

[cloudmountain]

My error: the water in San Diego is 63 degrees. We went there in December once. The Navy SEALs were doing their COLD WATER training in those waters. They were fully suited up in all their gear.
We were told that they do their WARM WATER training in Florida.

Now, in Coronado, that area of their training is roped off.