The Empty Seat What's at Stake?

QUESTIONAIRE

You are a city council candidate in Santa Monica trying to win over a roomful of landlords.
Do you:

By Jorge Casuso

a.) Endorse rent control.
b.) Confess that you are a doctor who lived in a $500-a-month rent--- -----control apartment two blocks-from the beach.
c.) Compare renters to Albanians being slaughtered by the Serbs.
d.) All of the above. MORE

Monday, April 5 – With the two front runners absent, four long-shot candidates in this month’s race for an empty city council seat engaged in an often unruly debate Monday night, not among themselves, but with the landlords they were trying to win over.

Candidates from left: Frank Juarez, Jon Stevens,
Donald Gray and Dr.Peter Kerndt

The town hall meeting sponsored by the ACTION Apartment Association, one of the city landlord groups, only proved that, despite a new law that allows landlords to raise the rents of vacant units to market rates, rent control remains the single biggest issue dividing Santa Monica.

"There is only one issue in this town," said ACTION president Herb Balter, who moderated the meeting, "and that is rent control."

That point made, the candidates themselves proved the next important point -- honesty doesn’t pay, at least when it comes to the politics of rent control.

"We need people who are honest, even if they shoot themselves in the foot," said candidate Jon Stevens, a long-time renter who recently bought a home in Santa Monica. "We lost our majority. We voted for rent control and we lost it. So I compare myself to an Albanian."

Dr. Peter Kerndt proved the perils of honesty when he told the crowd about the $500-a-month apartment he once had two blocks from the beach.

"For a physician, that’s not fair," Kerndt confessed, vowing that he had learned his lesson. "Everyone is hurt when you’re not fair. I’m going to strive to be fair."

More low-key was Frank Juarez, who told the landlords that he endorsed the "concept" of rent control, then quoted his namesake, 19th century Mexican president Benito Juarez.

"We must have respect for each other’s rights in peace," said Juarez, whose platform to help stop the street violence that claimed two of his nephews last year was lost in the commotion over rent control.

Candidate Donald Gray seemed to please the crowd when he bemoaned the lack of fair representation he said existed under the Santa Monicans for Renters Rights-run government.

"They have contrived a schism to exercise more power over government than they should have," Gray said. "SMMR is a political action group with special interests. It’s a detriment to the city to have two groups at odds."

Missing from the debate were SMRR candidate Richard Bloom, who excused himself because his family has been ill, and his top challenger Susan Cloke, who said she had a previous engagement. Also absent was a fifth long-shot candidate, Marc J. Sanschagrin.

"This election is pretty much in the bag for Richard Bloom," said Stevens, who has lost three previous bids for a council seat. "Sometimes the best way to win is to lose."

"You should be very glad we’re not postal workers," Balter said.

Speak Out! We want to hear from both landlords and tenants. Tell us about the strange things happening to you under rent control.

On April 24-25, Santa Monica will make history by holding its first two-day weekend election.

So with Santa Monicans for Renters Rights currently holding four of the seven council seats, what difference would winning a fifth seat make for the powerful political organization?

Plenty.

A fifth seat would give SMMR the clout to take property for the public good by eminent domain, rezone land, reallocate funds from the budget throughout the year and fire the city manager, city attorney and city clerk.

With the SMRR majority on the hunt for new park space and land for affordable housing, the special election could be one of the most important in years.

Until election day "The Empty Seat" will be filled with the latest news from the campaign trail.