Tim Willert
Property owners and others made a last-ditch effort Tuesday to
keep the City Council from adopting an ordinance that would make it
tougher for landlords to evict tenants, calling on the council to
postpone a decision until more public input has been gathered.
"This ordinance might serve to further divide landlords and
tenants," said Charlotte Ives, a Glendale landlord and business
owner.
Glendale Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President Judee
Kendall urged the council to delay a vote for 30 days "to allow
interested groups and individuals time to evaluate the ordinance and
provide input."
"We didn't have enough time to take a look at [the ordinance],"
Kendall said. "We're very concerned about the process."
Under the ordinance, landlords would face stiffer penalties for
evicting tenants, reducing services or hiking rents in response to a
tenant's complaints.
The council, which heard from dozens of landlords and tenants, had
not reached a decision by press time.
"I don't think we have to survey the community every single time
we want to pass an ordinance," Councilman Bob Yousefian said in
response to complaints from those opposing the legislation.
Renter Lindy Hays and other tenants urged the council to act as
quickly as possible.
"I think it would be much better for you gentlemen to pass this
ordinance and tinker [with it as you go]," Hays told the council.
The council appeared poised to adopt the ordinance last week. But
since introducing it, property owners mobilized in opposition,
prompting Councilman Dave Weaver to reconsider his position.
Glendale Apartment Assn. President Herbert Molano contends the
ordinance would make it tougher to evict tenants who have become a
nuisance to others.
"[The proposed ordinance] is constraining our ability to maintain
the best possible environment for our tenants," Molano told the
council. "We're going to be faced with a situation where we lose a
good tenant and keep a bad one."
Retaliatory evictions are illegal under state law, but the
proposed ordinance would create a tenant defense if a landlord files
an unlawful detainer, shifting the burden of proof from renter to
landlord.
Under the proposed legislation, landlords could face additional
fines of up to $500 and possibly a misdemeanor conviction resulting
up to six months in jail.
"We already have laws in place that protect good tenants from bad
landlords," Frank Whitehead, a tenant-landlord attorney, told the
council.
The legislation is based on "just cause" eviction laws already on
the books in such cities as Los Angeles, West Hollywood and San
Francisco.
It gives 11 reasons a landlord can evict, including nonpayment of
rent, allowing additional occupants to live in the apartment without
the landlord's approval, and use of the property to conduct illegal
activity.
Kendall criticized the city for not soliciting public input from
interested parties, and likened the situation to one in which the
council adopted a systematic rental inspection program, but repealed
that ordinance after complaints from property owners and others who
said they were not included in the process.
"We feel that this is very much a business issue as much as it is
a tenant-landlord issue," Kendall said.
