Posted on 05/14/2008 10:28:42 AM PDT by SmithL
Thirty years ago, when Howard Jarvis drove Proposition 13 to a lopsided victory at the California polls, the old curmudgeon expended a fair amount of invective trying to prove that he was a real populist and not just a running dog for the Los Angeles Apartment Owners Association.
He was in fact employed by the apartment owners and his campaign was based there. But his argument was borne out by the fact that his shrewd direct mail campaign generated many thousands of small contributions from elderly homeowners fearful that they'd lose those homes to escalating property taxes. Many became members of what's now the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.
But if Jarvis was in fact a real populist, his successors at HJTA, sponsors of Proposition 98 on the June 3 ballot, have a much harder time making the case.
The measure, which promises to restrain governments' use of eminent domain, would also end rent control in the 11 California cities that have it – a few others have some renter protections — and prohibit it forever more. Its big bucks support comes primarily from apartment owner groups, the owners of mobile home parks, real estate associations, the Farm Bureau and from HJTA itself.
Thirty years ago, many of those apartment owners implicitly promised their tenants that if Proposition 13 passed and their taxes were rolled back, renters would get a share of the savings. That didn't happen. But Proposition 13 did add fuel to the push for rent control in Santa Monica and other California cities.
So in a way, Proposition 98 brings the story full circle.
Jon Coupal, the president of HJTA and designated voice for the campaign, argues that despite the large number of big funders, his measure has many more small contributors than the forces opposing it...
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Don't be silly!
Indeed he was. But the old leftists like Shrag still despise the man who had the audacity to declare our homes off limtis to the whims of the local tax collectors.
What this fails to say is that the rent control measures will only apply to rentals if present renters move, also the controls will be phase out gradually. I am all for ending rent controls as long as the government gets out of the business of not allowing new housing to built. Keep their fact out of private property and things will work out. I voted yes on 98(absentee ballot), prop 99 is a do nothing measure that only applies to single family dwellings and still allows the state to take businesses,as well as rentals and land, and give them to other private owners for private use. Not a solution to the eminent domain seizures.
When I moved here to Toronto we had rent control, and the only way you could get a decent apartment was bribery (”key money” they called it). Vacancy rate was below 1%.
Rent control is now being phased out; your rent cannot be escalated more than 3% without severe oversight by the Tribunal, as long as you stay where you are. The vacancy rate is now up around 5% and apartment buildings are actually offering bribes to the TENANTS to attract us on board. For example, I negotiated a rate that included a dishwasher and a custom built office (they build it into an existing closet, although for some reason they did not put the cable connection in there, and the one power plug is controlled by the switch for the hall light which I had to fix myself as the resident manager whined that it was too hard to do), both of which are $20/month add-ons which I got as a throw-in. In the old neighbourhood where it took me 3 years to get a torn screen replaced (could not do it myself as the windows are barred on ground floor units and the “yard” outside them is off limits to the tenants) is now offering HDTV to anyone who will sign a year’s lease.
Yes, the people who don’t understand capitalism are squalling. But the rest of us are happy.
You mean, it's backed by actual property owners? Wow, what a concept!
Apparently Mr. Schrag thinks those who don't own property should direct the laws constraining those who do. There is a word for that, I think.
ya know...if I remember correctly, the right to vote was originally restricted to property owners in this country...I’m becoming more convinced daily that we should again restrict it in such a way...especially when it comes to school spending referendums...
No representation without taxation.
Socialists are easy to get along with. All they want is everything you make and everything you have!
I’d settle for them limiting the vote to citizens. ;-)
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