Letters to the Editor: Apartment owners are in business to make a profit, like anyone else

There will soon be over 4,000 new apartments in Glendale. Maybe more have been approved by now.

It appears the average rent for a new two bedroom, two bathroom apartment is around $3,400 per month. One at that size was listed at $4,095 per month. These are the new market rates in Glendale, like it or not.

There doesn’t seem to be any hand wringing about these rates, but let an existing owner want to raise his/her rates to market and the end of the world is in sight.

Owning an apartment building is a for-profit business, not a charitable endeavor. There are risks and rewards, just like owning a hot dog stand. Nobody tells the hot dog stand owner how much to charge for a hot dog.

Perhaps if the city of Glendale had told the developers of the new apartments that they could only charge the existing market rates in Glendale existing apartment owners wouldn’t be incentivized to raise their rates. That did not happen and the new market rates are in place.

I am reasonably sure if Glendale had told developers how much they could charge for an apartment they would not have built those new apartments. Just a thought.

Jim Kussman

Glendale