Why is it when some bureaucrat or special-interest group needs to
raise money for a worthy or not-so-worthy cause, property owners, the
general minority in any given community, are the ones to foot the
bill?
Be it parks, roads, utilities, school bonds or community college
bonds, voters approve costly long-term debt to be paid by property
owners. While landlords can hope to recoup some of these increases
with increased rents, landlords can also expect local, regional and
national economies to swing dramatically from time to time. Whether
it's good times or bad, the property owner is expected to pay those
extra fees and taxes.
Now, impose more regulation, just-cause eviction, mandatory
inspections, 12/12 program or rent control on top of our local
government's blatant and malicious manipulation of the zoning code to
nearly eliminate the production of new rental housing in all parts of
the city, and somehow, it's the property owner's fault for creating
the housing crisis.
Just look at these numbers for Glendale: The population has
increased almost 40 % since 1980. That's 40,978 from 1980-1990 and
14,135 from 1990 to 2000. We went from 139,060 in 1980 to 194,173 by
2000. That's 39.6%.
Let's look at what this city constructed in new housing in the
same comparative period:
* From 1980 to 1990, we added 10,487 dwelling units.
* From 1990 to 1995, we added 1,159 dwelling units.
* From 1998 to 2000, we added 384 dwelling units.
To Ms. Roberta Gutierrez, that is a classic supply-and-demand
issue, whether it's real, manipulated, imposed by government or
private enterprise. Are the basic facts getting clearer?
The attempts by Glendale government or its citizens to stabilize,
control or regulate housing condition or rents will fail miserably,
and all citizens will sacrifice what little quality of life remains
in Glendale. Not only will the division between landlords and tenants
widen, but tenants will be divided when just-cause eviction protects
insubordinate, unruly, disrespectful, violent or hostile tenants.
Good tenants and good landlords don't need to be regulated. The rules
being established will only go to protect the tenants we don't want,
resulting in good tenants relocating to other areas, even if the rent
is higher.
Take this trend out five, 10 or 15 years, and soon our schools
will be filled with the same kind of children, and the quality of our
schools will also slide. Property values will be negatively affected,
and property owners will fill the rooms at the county Assessor's
