New City Website. Same City Hall Indifference.

We could fund a robust tenants’ rights campaign if only we had a nickel for every time that we found and reported a problem with the city’s website. And a recent redesign is scant improvement. For a decade we have complained to the city about poorly-organized menus, long load times, and broken links throughout the site. But after the redesign broken links are now our problem. Nearly all of our posts link to beverlyhills.org and overnight all those links broke. They now return an error page. To what can we attribute that oversight? Indifference!

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Pamela Azar: Remembering My Neighbor, Gone Five Years Already

Five years ago we lost to cancer Pamela Azar, who was a civic-minded neighbor and a passionate Renters Alliance follower. So much time has passed; how can it be? It seems like only yesterday that Pam and I shared a call or I opened my email inbox to see another uplifting message of support in our ongoing effort to wring better tenant protections from city hall. Pam died in hospice on June 22, 2019 before we even had a chance to meet though we lived only blocks apart. Here is a bit more about a lovely soul I am proud to have called ‘neighbor.’

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My Beverly Hills City Council 2024 Election Endorsements

The polls close on March 5th and that means those who have not already voted have less than two weeks to mark our ballots. And arguably the most consequential contest on this primary ballot is our municipal election. Ten candidates are running for Beverly Hills city council. It can be a challenge to make an informed choice so I want to offer my personal endorsements.

Frequently I am asked for my opinion because I am active in the city on the subject of tenants’ rights. Here I reluctantly offer my own personal endorsements because I know that we want our concerns are represented in city hall and it can be difficult to decide for whom to vote.

It matters. Do you feel that you are the last to know when construction is going to disrupt your day? Are you worried about car break-ins because you feel like our alleys are not sufficiently patrolled? These are concerns that are unique to tenants. We need city hall to hear them. And we need new councilmembers who will talk about them.

I feel that two candidates are the best all-around choices for city council: Craig Corman and Alissa Roston. Now, they may not necessarily be the most ardent tenants’ rights champions so I want to share my reasons for choosing them. Read on to learn why I support them for city council in 2024.

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Our Take on the 5.9% Chapter 5 Rent Increase

City Council has approved a maximum allowable annual rent increase for Chapter 5 rent-stabilized tenants that is the highest percentage in three decades. At 5.9% it is nearly twice the rate of inflation for our region and it will fall hardest on our longest-term renting households that are almost exclusively headed by seniors who live on a fixed-income. Meanwhile these households are also exposed to a variety of possible pass-through surcharges (including for seismic retrofit). What are our councilmembers thinking?

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To My Rent-Stabilized Neighbors: No Need to Save this Date

The installation of the incoming Beverly Hills mayor and vice-mayor will take place on April 4th, says the city’s official announcement. “Save the date!” But it is difficult for me to suggest my neighbors should save the date for a ceremony where Vice-Mayor Julian Gold and Councilmember Lester Friedman will be nominated and elected by fellow councilmembers to the offices of mayor and vice-mayor respectively. Not that I begrudge the honor. All councilmembers give generously of their time to conduct the people’s business. And every year councilmembers rotate into those two ceremonial offices. It just happens that I’m not feeling any love for tenants from Gold and Friedman and that puts me into something less than a celebratory mood.

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Forget Winter – We are in Tarp Season!

Record precipitation hit our region as an ‘atmospheric river’ of water vapor stalled over California. The storm was preceded by a series of advisories from the National Weather Service warning of heavy rain, strong winds, thunderstorms and floods. Some areas saw more than one inch of rain per hour! Indeed the weather folks called last week’s storm the most impressive since 2005. That can present quite a challenge to an old roof!

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Nuisance Neighbor to Neighborhood Nuisance

In early 2020 Beverly Hills landlord Dr. Stephen Copen rented to a tenant with a penchant for disrupting the neighborhood. Each month Copen collects $3,000 from this tenant for one-half of a small two-bedroom apartment in his building, which is at the corner of Reeves and Charleville. He also rents the other half of the apartment to another tenant. While this landlord takes it in hand-over-fist, we in the neighborhood have seen our peace and quiet disappear. How is it that a nuisance neighbor can wreak havoc for nearly three long years?

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Library Moves to Collect Old Fines Days Before Discontinuing Overdue Fines

Beverly Hills library collects a fine of 25¢ for each day that an adult book, CD or DVD is overdue. Those quarters add up and some households are in debt. Now the city is serious about collecting. Last week borrowers in arrears received an emailed notice threatening to refer that debt to a collection agency…with only ten days notice and an additional 40% added for referring it to collections. Libraries around the country have discontinued overdue fines and — wait for it! — so has our library as of July 1st. So why put the strong-arm on households in the 11th hour?

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My Rundown of the 2022 Beverly Hills Candidates

The choices tenants make at the ballot box will affect the affordability and availability of rental housing for years to come. This election cycle there are three of five City Council seats open. Incumbents stand a good chance of winning reelection. But if the composition of Council changes significantly we may find it tougher to win the continued improvements to the rent stabilization ordinance that we need for sufficient protections in this difficult time. Often I am asked which candidates I support. Here is my personal guide to the candidates.

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Why Does My Multifamily Alley Look Like Rubbish?

Here is a question many multifamily residents ask themselves every time they drop a bag of trash in a busted-up refuse bin: Why are so many of these giant black containers cracked, broken or missing a lid entirely? These cans, along with the proliferation of dirt and debris, make our multifamily alleys look like a rubbish bin. Won’t anyone in City Hall give a crap about the crap in our alleys?

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Our Take: Extend the Moratorium and Scratch the Lost Rent Increases

City Council today will discuss whether and when to wind down the city’s COVID-era moratoria on evictions and rent increases. Council will also discuss whether and how to allow landlords to recapture rent increases denied by the moratorium. From our perspective this is not a tough call: extend the moratoria to at least May 31st in order to align our policy with certain state and county timelines and close the door on lost rent increases. The benefit to COVID-affected tenants is significant and while the impact on landlords appears marginal.

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