SANTA PAULA : Initiative Petitions Rejected by City

A mobile home park rent-control initiative that proponents had sought to place on the June ballot in Santa Paula will not qualify because supporters circulated petitions improperly, city officials said.

Voters could have been misled when they were asked to sign the petitions because the space for signatures was separated from the text of the initiative, said Santa Paula City Atty. Phillip H. Romney. “You had one stack of papers that had signatures on them, and another that had the initiative on it,” Romney said. “You couldn’t tell what had been presented to the public. The petition has to stand by itself.”

Under state law, the text of an initiative and petition signatures must be printed on the same piece of paper.

Proponents carried packets containing petitions and a complete text of the initiative, among other documents, said Mary Thrasher, secretary and treasurer of the United Mobile Home Owners’ Assn. of Santa Paula Inc., the group that circulated the petitions. “I talked to voters and they more or less knew why I was asking for their signatures,” said Thrasher, who disagreed with the city attorney’s interpretation of the law.

The initiative would limit rent increases to $25 each time a mobile home is sold, and allow park owners to automatically implement annual cost-of-living increases. A 25% increase is now permitted by the rent-control ordinance when a mobile home is sold.

Advocates, who submitted about 2,000 signatures to the city clerk’s office Jan. 23, said they aren’t discouraged by the setback. Helen Currier, president of the mobile home owners’ association, said the group plans to collect the 2,000 signatures again and submit them by May 12 to qualify for the November election. A meeting will be held Feb. 24 to discuss alternative strategies.