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  1. TopTop #1

    Caution: Don"t sign this petition!!! (Santa Rosa Rent Control)

    Unless you oppose the current rent control/just cause eviction ordinance, that Santa Rosa City Council recently passed, do not sign the related petition that is now being circulated.


    It is being put forth as, "A Voters' Rights Issue", which is mis-leading. The petitions' purpose is to nullify/repeal the ordinance that passed, ie., the rent control ordinance is now in effect!

    The folks asking you to sign are frequently mis-informed, thinking and saying that this is to "support rent control and get it on November's ballot", and are being paid $5 per signature (which is much more than is usually paid per signature).

    The current ordinance protects renters and reasonable landlords/landladies, and is being funded by greedy landlords/landladies.


    Please help spread the word---Do Not Sign That Petition !!!
    Last edited by Barry; 09-15-2016 at 12:29 PM.
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  3. TopTop #2
    Shandi's Avatar
    Shandi
     

    Re: Caution: Don"t sign this petition!!!



    Signers of anti-rent control petition in Santa Rosa can strip names
    https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6070553-181/signers-of-anti-rent-control-petition

    KEVIN MCCALLUM
    THE PRESS DEMOCRAT | September 9, 2016

    Sharon Fujier was exiting G&G Market in Santa Rosa Thursday when a woman approached her and asked if she was a registered voter.

    The 76-year-old retired school teacher said she was. The woman then said something that gave Fujier the impression she was circulating a petition to help renters.

    Fujier signed the petition without giving it a close look. Now, it’s evident that she is one of numerous residents who say they have mistakenly signed a petition in recent days to overturn rent control, thinking they were putting down their name in support of it.

    “Being in a hurry, I signed,” Fujier said Friday. “I’m usually more careful than that.”

    The woman circulating the petition claimed the rent control law passed by Santa Rosa last month and due to go into effect Sept. 30 “needed revision” and therefore should be placed on the ballot, Fujier said.

    In fact, the petition calls on the City Council to repeal the law entirely, or send the matter to a vote of the people, which if successful would also result in the law being overturned, not revised. When Fujier read in Friday’s edition of The Press Democrat that the petition was to block rent control, she thought to herself, “Oh my. I wish I could undo that.”

    It turns out, she and others like her can.

    Santa Rosa residents who signed such a petition in error — either because they misunderstood it or were misled — have a few options, according to elections officials.

    They can get their names removed from the petition if they act quickly, said Daisy Gomez, Santa Rosa city clerk.

    To remove one’s name from such a petition, a person must bring or send a letter to the City Clerk’s Office before the petition forms are submitted, Gomez said. The letter must request removal from the petition, and contain the person’s name, address where they are registered to vote, and an original signature, Gomez said.
    Because of the requirement for original signatures, emails and photocopies are not accepted, she said.

    The signature is needed because elections officials will compare it to the signature on file with the Registrar of Voters Office to confirm their identify, she said.

    City officials heard from numerous people Friday after publication of the Press Democrat story.

    A number of people appear to have been confused about what the petition was really for, Gomez said.
    “There’s a lot of calls coming in,” Gomez said. “Some people really didn’t know what they were signing was a referendum to repeal an ordinance.”

    In at least one instance, a petition gatherer claimed rent control had not yet been approved, said Diana Wilson. The Windsor resident said she was fairly certain Santa Rosa had passed rent control already, and was confused when the petition gatherer said it needed a vote of the people to take effect, she said.
    “This guy boldfaced lied to me,” she said.

    She said it felt like a “double-whammy” because she told him she lived in Windsor, and he encouraged her to sign the Santa Rosa petition anyway.

    Even though she isn’t a registered voter in Santa Rosa, Wilson’s signature won’t be removed from the petition unless the error is discovered by elections officials during their verification process. She said she intends to contact the clerk’s office to have it removed from the forms.

    Petition gatherers have until Sept. 29 to file their petitions, but can file earlier, which means the clock is running for those who wish to file paperwork to have their names removed.

    In addition, if people feel they have been misled by a petition, they can file a complaint with the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office or the Secretary of State’s Office.

    It is a crime to make a false statement in an effort to get someone to sign a petition, Gomez said.

    Anyone who “intentionally misrepresents or intentionally makes any false statement” while circulating a petition is guilty of a misdemeanor, according to the state election code. The California Apartment Association, which on Sept. 1 began the process of establishing an independent expenditure committee in the city, has declined to answer questions about the petition drive. The group, which represents the interests of landlords statewide, conducted a similar effort last year in Richmond against rent control.

    There are reports of people going door-to-door as part of the petition drive, as well as a voter registration drive being conducted in conjunction with the effort. A man who gave his name to county officials as Robert Blaska picked up 300 voter registration cards from the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters Office Friday, said Elizabeth Acosta, chief deputy Registrar of Voters. The man said he was with an organization called American Voter Drive.

    County staff asked Blaska how he intended to register new voters, and he said he planned to do so in front of supermarkets as part of a rent control petition, Acosta said.

    When contacted by The Press Democrat, Blaska claimed he had no idea who was behind the petition drive. After he was asked a follow-up question about who was paying him to register new voters, Blaska hung up. He declined to answer questions in a subsequent telephone call. A search of news stories turned up a Robert Blaska who was contacted by police in Kirkland, Washington in May 2015 about gathering signatures in front of a Trader Joe’s store.

    According to an account of the incident on the website Permanent Defense, a Northwest liberal activist group, a police report indicates Blaska “refused to move his petition table from obscuring the exit and wheelchair ramp.” Officers also reported receiving “complaints of him cursing at patrons.”

    Asked about the reports in another telephone call, Blaska said the account was inaccurate, denied he was involved and hung up.
    Quote Posted in reply to the post by gaiasophia: View Post
    Unless you oppose the current rent control/just cause eviction ordinance, that Santa Rosa City Council recently passed, do not sign the related petition that is now being circulated.
    Quote Posted in reply to the post by gaiasophia: View Post
    It is being put forth as, "A Voters' Rights Issue", which is mis-leading. The petitions' purpose is to nullify/repeal the ordinance that passed, ie., the rent control ordinance is now in effect!

    The folks asking you to sign are frequently mis-informed, thinking and saying that this is to "support rent control and get it on November's ballot", and are being paid $5 per signature (which is much more than is usually paid per signature).

    The current ordinance protects renters and reasonable landlords/landladies, and is being funded by greedy landlords/landladies.


    Please help spread the word---Do Not Sign That Petition !!!
    Last edited by Barry; 09-13-2016 at 11:59 PM.
    | Login or Register (free) to reply publicly or privately   Email

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  5. TopTop #3
    tommy's Avatar
    tommy
     

    Re: Caution: Don"t sign this petition!!! (Santa Rosa Rent Control)

    There seems to be a fear of putting Rent Control to the vote of the people of Santa Rosa, rather than the 7 City Council people. Rent Control passed with a split decision - with a slight majority in favor.

    Rent Control is a panacea. It obviously will benefit a minority of people - those who rent one of the 11,000 or one quarter of apts in Santa Rosa - 3 unit properties and more, built before 2/1995. CA State law exempts all single family dwellings, condos, and multi family housing built after 2/1995. However, like any big government program, it has unintended consequences.

    People live in rent controlled apts for a long long time - the longer they live there, the more they benefit, as rents continue to go up. They give up jobs elsewhere, they give up moving closer to loved ones, etc, to stay in their rent controlled apt. The consequence of this is that it removes those 11,000 apts from the available stock... and makes housing all the more scarce for the remaining 75% of the renters. This artificial shortage increases the cost of housing for that 75% - because more people are competing for fewer places. It's supply & demand - decrease supply, and the price will rise.

    The other consequence is that as the older units built before 2/1995 become less and less economically viable, and there's less and less reason for owners to maintain them, since the income is restricted, they get torn down, and replaced by new housing... which will rent at the maximum rent. This also will make housing more expensive, as cheap older places are removed from the market. Another unintended consequence.

    The companion Tenant Protection, while protecting people who have lived in a place for a time, from being forced out so an owner can rebuild... also protects drug dealers, anti social people, all sorts of undesirable types. They will be able to stay in their homes, and good law abiding neighbors will be forced to move, because the bad guys will be protected by Tenant Protection.

    In a survey 15 yrs ago, by the American Economic Institute, 90% of economists were opposed to rent control. Why? Because it's an artificial program that has winners and losers, creates artificial incentives, and disrupts the activity of the housing market.

    Of course even this argument is not absolute. It is true that in a place like San Francisco, which is basically an island, with great economic and physical barriers, rent control does enhance diversity, of working class people. The real need is to build more affordable housing, which requires partial government funding.

    I confess before Thee, I am a landlord. I have built and own CDC affordable housing in the Sonoma Valley. I have personally benefited from my real estate investments. Our economy is structured to benefit real estate investments. I've studied the economics of Rent Control. A few win. The rest pay for it with higher rents. Rent Control in Santa Rosa was passed for the benefit of a few, and NBOP that pushed it. There is no free rent.

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by Shandi: View Post


    Signers of anti-rent control petition in Santa Rosa can strip names
    https://www.pressdemocrat.com/news/6070553-181/signers-of-anti-rent-control-petition
    ....
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