Renters’ Rights Group Vows to ‘Make the Future Ours’

When Jack Rubens moved to Santa Monica three years ago he was fairly typical of the city’s new breed of residents--young, upwardly mobile and only mildly interested in the power struggle involving the political factions known as the All Santa Monica Coalition and Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights.

It took a long campaign against plans to build a car dealership in his neighborhood to persuade a politically awakened Rubens to align himself with an organization that would fight for his interests.

The 27-year-old attorney said he chose Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights because the liberal tenant activist organization was more attuned to the needs of residents. He attended the group’s first convention in Santa Monica this week and was told that tenant activists, who suffered a string of setbacks in recent years, intend to regain control of City Hall in 1986.

“They’re taking steps to get involved in a variety of issues in Santa Monica and I think that’s great,” said Rubens, a tenant. “I think this is the group that stands for reasonable growth in Santa Monica.”

The politicization of people like Jack Rubens is good news for the tenant movement, which first stormed to power on the heels of a pro-rent-control campaign six years ago. With an ambitious membership and fund-raising drive under way, new members like Rubens are considered vital to the organization’s future. Councilman Dennis Zane of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights said the convention showed that people want to get involved.

“I thought the meeting reflected that we’re stronger as a body than we’ve ever been,” Zane said. “We’re certainly stronger than when we passed the rent control law. The leadership has developed and matured and the community has become more involved. . . . There are a lot of new faces.”

Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights has been around since 1978, when senior citizens and young activists affiliated with several political groups came together to oppose rising rents and unchecked development. It successfully campaigned for one of the nation’s toughest rent control laws in 1979 and shocked the city’s old guard by taking control of the City Council in 1981.

Its political clout started to sour in 1983 when the newly formed All Santa Monica Coalition defeated the tenant group’s leader, then-Mayor Ruth Yannatta Goldway. Tenant activists now hold two of the seven council seats, half of what they had just a year ago. One seat was lost last November, when council member Dolores Press failed to qualify for the ballot. Another was lost in August, when Councilman Ken Edwards died of cancer complications.

The five majority seats belong to the All Santa Monica Coalition, a politically moderate organization that officially backs rent control, even though much of its support comes from apartment owners. Under the city’s staggered election system, four of the coalition representatives face reelection next year.

Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights is hoping to win at least two of the four seats. It became a general membership organization in April, and Zane said the group has recruited about 1,800 members so far.

At Sunday’s convention, the organization’s leaders told about 300 supporters that the coming year is critical to the group’s survival. Former council member Press called the meeting a “history-making event.” Councilman James Conn said the membership response has been “phenomenal” and said the organization is just begging to gear up.

“The future of the city is at stake,” Conn told the spirited group. “I hope we’ll be able to work together at making the future ours.”

Assemblyman Tom Hayden (D-Santa Monica) predicted that the organization will grow stronger. Hayden, whose Campaign for Economic Democracy helps fund tenant activities, said rent control remains a “cornerstone” issue.

Noting that the Legislature will reconsider a bill aimed at weakening rent control next year, Hayden said Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights must emphasize its longstanding commitment to affordable housing. At the same time, Hayden said it should not be pigeonholed as a one-issue organization.

“The struggle is not only for who has how many seats on the City Council,” he said. “The struggle is for who has a vision for Santa Monica.”

The keynote address was given by San Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt, a gay activist and rent control supporter. Britt told the group that it has to bring “the spirit of the tenant movement” to the political arena. He likened the organization to an extended family of activists.

“The greatest challenge you face is to work on your family . . . to work on your relationship internally,” Britt said, “so that when the system becomes yours, it becomes better.”

The convention, which lasted more than four hours, featured several other speakers, including former Mayor Goldway, who delivered a fund-raising plea as convention members sat quietly on folding chairs.

The Retail Clerk’s Union Hall on 2nd Street, a traditional Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights meeting place, was decorated with banners and T-shirts from previous tenant activist campaigns. Several people involved in the early days of the movement competed for spots on the steering committee.

The winners were Press, a leader in union and feminist causes; Derek Shearer, a city planning commissioner; Rosemary Martinez, a Pico neighborhood community organizer; Lacy Goode, a community activist; Judy Abdo, a former director of the Ocean Park Community Organization, and Tom Poffenberger, a Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights campaign manager.

Also elected were Charlotte Houghton, Hayden’s field representative; Millie Rosenstein, president of the Santa Monica Democratic Club; Paul Rosenstein, a community activist; David Shniad, a community activist, and Ken Genser, a former city planning commissioner.

The steering committee will meet throughout the year and help set the organization’s agenda for 1986. Shearer said the group represents a good cross section.

“It wasn’t a slate or an in group,” Shearer said. “It was a good mix if you look at the age and the breakdown of the people. I could see the Democratic clubs represented, the neighborhood groups and the people with the necessary technical expertise. There are also people like myself who are very policy-oriented . . . and it’s about half women.”

Shearer, Goldway’s husband and a longtime supporter of the tenant activist movement, said he was also encouraged by the spirit of the crowd.

“A lot of these people feel like they’ve been shut out by the current council,” Shearer said. “I got a very good feeling from the convention. People feel like this is their organization . . . they’re energized. I feel like we’re stronger in many ways.”

Tenant organizers said they also welcomed an appearance by Councilman Alan Katz, who was appointed to fill Edwards’ seat. Since he was named to the seat by the four coalition members on the council, Katz has generally been viewed as a coalition ally. But at Sunday’s convention, the new councilman said he hopes to be an independent representative endorsed by both groups.

Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights “plays a vital role in Santa Monica and I intend to get out and meet every element of the community,” Katz said. “These people deserve to have a voice and I don’t feel I’m the enemy.”

Conn, who invited Katz to the convention, said he did so because he wanted Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights to get to know the new councilman. Zane said he was “very pleased” to see Katz there. He added, however, that Katz must show that he is a strong supporter of rent control and other tenant activist stands before he is considered for an endorsement in 1986.

Zane said the organization will make its endorsements in June, when it holds it second convention. Rubens, one of Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights newest members, said he will be watching the group over the next few months to determine how much he wants to get involved.

“I’m kind of sitting back right now to see what they’re going to do,” Rubens said. “While rent control is certainly an important issue, I want to see whether the new steering committee is going to . . . get involved in other issues. If they do that, I think I’ll be taking an active role.”