THE LOW-DOWN ON THE TOWN Impudent, uncensored account By C. Castle

Rental Summit II: "The parasites are killing the host," landlords warn city

A few months back, we broke a story about a closed-door rental summit between landlords, tenants and city officials. In that summit, landlord representatives Robert Sullivan and Chris Harding - two powerful forces in Santa Monica's real estate industry -- discussed (and eventually backed) a tenant harassment ordinance the city has since passed.

The summit, however, did not include representatives of ACTION Apartment Association, a rag-tag army of mom and pop landlords who felt Sullivan and Harding had sold them out.

Last Wednesday, at a meeting brokered by Assembly member Sheila Kuehl, representatives of ACTION finally got to tell city officials -- who included Mayor Pam O'Connor and Councilman Michael Feinstein - what they thought of the harassment ordinance, among other measures they charge unfairly target property owners. And they didn't mince words.

One landlord - Forrest King - warned that "the parasites are killing the host."

It is no secret that for 20 years landlords have felt that rent control tenants have been living off their hard-earned gains while the city encourages the economic injustice. Now ACTION, which represents many elderly landlords, is warning city officials that a bevy of emergency ordinances and rent board regulations is threatening to drive them out of business.

"We called the meeting to tell them we are being bashed, we are being discriminated against and we are not being counted," King said. "Many landlords are elderly. They are a politically weak minority that can't fight for themselves. We're being boxed into a corner, and we're in a desperate position. It's gone beyond property rights, it's human rights."

The allegations came as no surprise to city officials, who had heard similar indignant speeches in front of the rent board and the council for years. What was novel was that they heard it first hand, one-on-one, in a private, neutral setting from the most activist landlords of all - ACTION once circled City Hall in a tank --, and that the meeting ended up being civil.

"We didn't wind up screaming and hollering at each other, and it was undeniably the first meeting of its kind," said ACTION president Herb Balter, who called for the summit. "We tried to tell hem how we felt, how oppressed we were. We never had the opportunity to have this discussion."

You never asked, city officials said.

"I never heard anything ever from them," Mayor O'Connor said. "The only way I can know is if somebody tells me. My door is not closed.

"It's about communication, and people need to communicate with us," O'Connor said. "It's important for people to have a voice and to be able to express their opinion. This provided an arena. There was no special agenda, no outcome that was anticipated or proposed."

Don't expect any of the parties to change their minds, though the landlord's message was heard loud and clear.

"They concern was that they were overly picked on," said Laurie Newman, a Kuehl representative who attended the summit. "I felt the landlord side got to express themselves. Our side just listened, and that can never hurt."