Utility Shut-Offs Also a Sign of Recession

Regarding the increased number of utilities being turned off because of non-payment of bills (“Debate Sparked Over Edison’s Cutoff Policy,” Aug. 17), you again do not take into consideration that best-kept secret in Southern California: namely that the economy is so bad that people are quietly and in enormous numbers fleeing the state--or at least Los Angeles.

I have lived in Los Angeles for 50 years and have never seen so many vacancies. Every single neighborhood in Los Angeles that has apartments shows “For Rent” and “Vacancy” signs on almost every building. Even the earthquake hardly made a dent in the situation, and more signs have popped up in the last couple of months than existed before the quake.

The utility companies are just one type of business being hit by the fallout ripples from a truly bad economy. Let’s face it: When highly mobile people (apartment renters) can’t get work locally and have to leave the state in order to earn a living, they will stick anyone they can. And leaving without notifying the utility companies or paying your last bill is an excellent way to thumb your angry nose at hard times.

I know, as a landlord, that I used to be able to re-rent apartments immediately, and the new tenants would change the gas and electricity to their names right away to avoid an interruption in service. I certainly don’t bother to tell the utility companies that a tenant has moved, and I see the gas and electricity continue for quite some time before the companies realize they are being stiffed and turn them off.

BARBARA ASPENSON

Los Angeles