Rent-Control Backers Fail in Ballot Effort

A petition seeking to place a rent-control ordinance on the November ballot did not have enough verified signatures to qualify, a spokesman for the city clerk’s office said last week.

According to state law, 10% of the registered voters--2,084 in the city of Hawthorne--must sign a petition in order for it to qualify as a ballot measure.

The Hawthorne Renters and Homeowners Assn., which circulated the petition, submitted 2,975 signatures to the city clerk. Only 1,731 signatures were determined by election officials to be valid, the clerk’s spokesman said.

Eleanor Carlson, co-chairwoman of the petition drive, said she would begin another effort to put the measure on the ballot, using the verified names as a base for her next attempt.

“I am not going to give up,” Carlson said.

The rent-control advocates decided to gather signatures after their pleas for a rent- control ordinance were rebuffed by the City Council earlier this year.

The proposed measure would roll back rents to their Jan. 1, 1986, level, set a 5% annual cap on increases and establish a city board to oversee the ordinance.

Under a provision that matches the Los Angeles city rent-control ordinance, landlords would be able to raise rents as much as they like on apartment units that become vacant. In Santa Monica, which has a stricter rent-control ordinance, rents cannot be raised when an apartment is vacated.