Karen S. Kim
The just-cause eviction ordinance that passed narrowly amid
dissension and debate two weeks ago is getting a second look today.
A panel of community members will discuss the new law and its
repercussions at a closed meeting from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Adult
Recreation Center.
"I want both sides to come together and talk about some amendments
that need to be made to the law or some tinkering that needs to be
done to the ordinance," Councilman Bob Yousefian said Tuesday.
The ordinance, approved 3-2 by the City Council, requires that
landlords provide specific grounds for eviction as outlined in the
law, such as nonpayment of rent or violating tenant obligations. The
law is meant to protect tenants from retaliatory evictions.
Property owners and landlords have balked at the council's Aug.
20 vote, saying the ordinance would make it more difficult to evict
tenants who have become a nuisance to others. They also said the
council should have sought more public input before adopting the law.
This panel, which Yousefian said includes tenant groups and
landlords, should give the public a chance to speak up.
One issue Yousefian hopes the panel will address is how the
ordinance affects properties owned by trusts. However, the panel was
not created to approve or reject the ordinance, Yousefian said.
"If the property owners think ... they're going to come out and
say, 'We don't want this at all,' I'm not going to go for that unless
everyone, including the tenants, agree," Yousefian said. "I have no
intention of bringing this back up to abolish it. I'm not walking
that road."
The meeting, being coordinated by City Atty. Scott Howard, is not
open to the public or the council. Glendale Apartment Assn. President
Herbert Molano, one of the panel members, said he hopes the meeting
will be more productive than the 5-minute pleas during oral
communications of council meetings.
"It will hopefully be a round-table panel discussion of the
ordinance to discuss topics that might have been left out of the
original ordinance," Molano said. "Our objective is to make this a
better ordinance or come up with an alternative that is more
elegant."
