Election Bodes Ill for Landlords in ‘Single-Issue’ City

The heated Santa Monica City Council campaign will not produce any winners until Nov. 4. But it is already obvious that landlords are the big losers.

Every candidate has pledged allegiance to the city’s rigid rent control law this year. The only point they disagree on is who best supports it.

Julie Lopez Dad, David Finkel and Dolores Press, who are affiliated with Santa Monicans for Renters Rights, contend that they own the bragging rights to rent control because their organization created and championed the law.

Mayor Christine E. Reed and Councilmen David G. Epstein and William H. Jennings, who are backed by the All Santa Monica Coalition, claim that they are the true rent control team because they have protected it while in office.

Councilman Alan Katz and Zora Margolis, two independents in a race for a special two-year term, are also running pro-rent control campaigns.

The reason: The candidates who attract the most renter votes are likely to win on Election Day, when four at-large seats are up for grabs. Recent voter surveys have shown that some people care about toxics, the homeless or development. But almost everybody cares about rent control.

‘Single-Issue City’

“This is a single-issue city,” said Geoffrey S. Strand, one of the spokesmen for ACTION (A Committee to Insure Owners’ Needs) an apartment owners association. “Renters vote for the candidates who show that they are the most hated by the landlords.”

Criticism used to be leveled at the 7-year-old rent control law, considered one of the nation’s toughest because it prohibits landlords from raising rents when vacancies occur. But politicians have learned that it pays to be pro-rent control in a city where 80% of the residents are tenants.

In recent mailings, candidates from both of the political organizations have wrapped themselves in the rent control blanket.

“By voting for us on Nov. 4, you will be reelecting the team you can trust to protect and defend your renter’s rights,” said the coalition. The tenant faction answered: “To protect and defend rent control, vote for the candidates you can trust!”

Santa Monicans for Renters Rights and the All Santa Monica Coalition have been archrivals for most of the 1980s. The coalition, the more moderate of the two, has incumbency on its side. Reed, Epstein and Jennings have more than 20 years of experience among them. But the renters rights group, with its populist agenda, has established a better rapport with the city’s tenants over the years.

70% Go to Polls

Santa Monica has about 50,000 registered voters and about 70% of them go to the polls. The tenant faction in the past has had the solid support of 10,000 to 12,000 voters, mostly renters. The coalition has a core voting group of 8,000 to 10,000 people, mostly homeowners. So the campaigns are aimed at the remaining Santa Monica voters who could go either way on Election Day.

The All Santa Monica Coalition will spend about $250,000 on its campaign. The candidates and 15 to 20 coalition supporters have been walking door-to-door every weekend since late September. The coalition’s goal is to reach about 70% of the city’s households. They have also done phone work and mailings.

The coalition is counting on a sweep, but the race may be close. “The best thing we’ve got going is that the city is working,” said campaign manager Colleen Harmon. “People are pleased with the way Santa Monica is being run.”

Santa Monicans for Renters Rights expect to spend about $100,000. If one of its candidates wins, the council’s factions will be evenly split. If two of its candidates win, Santa Monicans for Renters Rights will assume control of City Hall. The group will step up its door-to-door campaign in the coming weeks.

“The biggest challenge for us is to make sure the voters understand that we are the people who established rent control and the people who fight for it,” said Charlotte Houghton, a Santa Monicans for Renters Rights campaign worker. “We are also the people who brought helter-skelter growth under control.”

Founded in 1979

Santa Monicans for Renters Rights came together in support of rent control in 1979, when many tenants were being evicted because of skyrocketing housing costs and demolitions. The group has focused most of its energy on tenant concerns since then, and its members held the council majority from 1981 until 1984.

During that time Santa Monicans for Renters Rights created nonprofit corporations to promote the revitalization of the Santa Monica Pier and the Third Street Mall, and resolved a long-running dispute over the fate of the Santa Monica Airport. The group also promoted passage of the city’s land-use plan.

At the same time, the organization was tagged with a reputation for being anti-business. The combination of rent control and a building moratorium caused businessmen to dub the city the “People’s Republic of Santa Monica.” And a bungled campaign ultimately cost the group its majority, when Councilwoman Press did not gather enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

The group has reorganized since then. At a convention earlier this year, its supporters picked Finkel, a Santa Monica Rent Control Board commissioner, and Dad, an Ocean Park-area community activist, to join Press on the slate.

Finkel, an attorney, is the most articulate of the three. But Press has the name recognition that comes from being a councilwoman. Dad, a novice, is banking on the solid support of the politically active Ocean Park community.

Press Conference Criticism

The three Santa Monicans for Renters Rights candidates have accused the incumbents of being pro-development and anti-rent control. At a press conference last week, the group lambasted the three coalition members for accepting $14,000 in campaign contributions from landlord interests. Earlier, the coalition was criticized for taking money from developers.

“This election is the watershed,” said Councilman Dennis Zane, one of two tenant activists on the council whose seat is safe until 1988. “If the coalition wins, the future will belong to the affluent. If we win, the pressure to make Santa Monica a Beverly Hills-by-the-Sea will be held in check.”

The All Santa Monica Coalition dismisses those charges. Mayor Reed said the coalition has demonstrated its opposition to accelerated development during the past two years. She said the three incumbents also have consistently voted to protect the city’s rent control law. Reed added that the coalition accepts contributions from developers and landlords because campaigns are expensive.

“People who give us money either love us, support us or ultimately think that we are the lesser of two evils,” Reed said. “But there’s no obligation.”

The coalition got its start in 1982, when homeowners, landlords and businessmen came together in opposition to Santa Monicans for Renters Rights. The group scored a major upset the next year when it narrowly defeated Mayor Ruth Yannatta Goldway, the symbolic leader of the rent control movement.

The coalition gained control of City Hall in 1984, after Press ran an unsuccessful write-in campaign. The group has maintained a 4-2 majority since then. The seventh councilman, Alan Katz, calls himself an independent.

Improvement of Relations

One of the coalition’s primary goals was to improve relations with the business community. A report issued by the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce earlier this year said that relations were on the mend, and chamber President Pat Barrett credited the coalition with supporting an chamber committee that is striving to bring business to Santa Monica. The coalition also worked on behalf of the toxics roundup program and agreed to subsidize the troubled Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District.

Politically, the coalition has drifted to the left in the last couple of years. Reed, once a rent control opponent, now calls herself a solid supporter, as do Epstein and Jennings. That stance has irritated some financial backers, but Reed calls rent control a political reality.

The homeless, who number close to 1,000 in Santa Monica, have proved to be a liability. After demanding that the city take action on the problem, the coalition conceded earlier this year that the city was powerless to do much about it.

The council’s All Santa Monica Coalition and Santa Monicans for Renters Rights factions voted together 40% of the time on 10 major issues between October, 1985, and October, 1986. In two instances, the council gave unanimous support to proposals aiding the rent control law. On other occasions the groups backed a $187,000 aid package for the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District and a plan establishing a downtown and Third Street Mall assessment district.

They differed most sharply over the firing of Planning Commissioner Derek Shearer and a proposal to finance two community organizations. Santa Monicans for Renters Rights opposed the firing of Shearer, who sits on its steering committee. The coalition opposed funding for Mid-City Neighbors and the Ocean Park Community Organization on grounds that the groups were overtly political.

Two Exceptions

Council members usually vote along organizational lines on major issues. But there were at least two exceptions last year. A motion to reconsider the Main Street zoning passed 5 to 2. Opposition came from Herb Katz, a coalition member, and Dennis Zane, of Santa Monicans for Renters Rights. In another instance, Herb Katz was the only coalition member who supported a motion to sue Los Angeles County over the lack of services for the homeless.

It is doubtful, however, that differences within each organization will surface during the remainder of the campaign. Both groups are trying to present a united front.

Santa Monicans for Renters Rights is driving home the message that it is the organization that best mirrors the city. It has labeled the coalition an “imposter” government and it accused coalition members of being in bed with greedy developers and landlords. Most of all, the liberal political organization is expressing uncompromising support for rent control.

“Who can the voters count on to stand behind the rent control law and make it work?” Zane asked in an interview. “The answer is clear . . . Santa Monicans for Renters Rights. Santa Monicans for Renters Rights always makes the effort.”

The All Santa Monica Coalition promotes itself as the group that represents all interests equally, and the group that has put Santa Monica on an even keel during the past two years. Its members contend that the tenant faction is divisive and dishonest when it lays claim to rent control.

“There is no single renter ticket,” said the coalition’s Harmon. “That’s the challenge. To get people to understand that.”

SANTA MONICA CITY COUNCIL VOTES ON 10 MAJOR ISSUES These issues came before the council between October, 1985, and October of this year. Reed, Jennings, Epstein and Herb Katz are members of the All Santa Monica Coalition, Conn and Zane are members of Santa Monicans for Renters Rights and Alan Katz is independent.

Christine William Subject Reed Jennings Firing of Planning Commissioner Derek Shearer for for Construction of Kramer Motors dealership at 1801 Santa Monica Blvd. for for Assessment district for renovation of Third Street Mall for for Decision to sue L.A. County over services for homeless against against $187,000 aid package for Santa Monica-Malibu School District for for Decision to reconsider Main Street Zoning Plan for for Requirement for landlords to pay relocation costs for tenants evicted through no fault of their own for for Decision to publicly oppose Tenant Incentive Program for for Request to provide funding for Mid-City Neighbors and Ocean Park Community Organization against against Appointment of Alan Katz to fill seat of Ken Edwards for for

David Herb James Dennis Alan Subject Epstein Katz Conn Zane Katz Firing of Planning Commissioner Derek Shearer for for against against for Construction of Kramer Motors dealership at 1801 Santa Monica Blvd. for for against against against Assessment district for renovation of Third Street Mall for for no vote for for Decision to sue L.A. County over services for homeless no vote for for for for $187,000 aid package for Santa Monica-Malibu School District for for for for for Decision to reconsider Main Street Zoning Plan for against for against for Requirement for landlords to pay relocation costs for tenants evicted through no fault of their own for for for for for Decision to publicly oppose Tenant Incentive Program for for for for for Request to provide funding for Mid-City Neighbors and Ocean Park Community Organization against against for for against Appointment of Alan Katz to fill seat of Ken Edwards for for no vote no vote no vote