From the March 2010 Newsletter:

Sometimes, it feels like we're living in an Alice in Wonderland world
By Noni Richen, SPOSFI President

It would be so nice if something made sense for a change,” said Alice in Wonderland. But the Cat said it best, “Oh, you can’t help that; we’re all mad here.” As I survey the past month of SPOSFI activities, I can’t help but feel like that girl in Lewis Carroll’s famous 1865 novel who falls down a rabbithole into a bewildering world inhabited by peculiar creatures. Our motives seem so logical to us, but we find ourselves confounded even by some of our allies. For example, while calling around the state to gauge interest in a means testing law, we learned from one owners’ group that it had made a pact with a local tenant group: it would refrain from calling for means testing if the tenant group refrained from calling for an all-elected rent board. We did, however, find several groups who are very supportive, including one large trade group that has offered money to help with our efforts.

Closer to home, at our last meeting we heard from two candidates who are probably among those most closely aligned to us in many of their stated policies. However, one of them said she was opposed to means testing, claiming that “household income doesn’t tell the whole story.” She said she is supporting an ailing relative, so her salary of $167,000 plus benefits was not enough to put her above a level deserving of owner subsidization. An astute member in the audience pointed out that the federal government’s Section 8 program sets income limits, so why shouldn’t the city? He also stressed that with Section 8, tax money from all citizens provides the subsidy, but that in San Francisco and other rent control cities, one owner subsidizes one renter. To this, the candidate opined that the present system is in no need of reform.

The second candidate said that one of the positive aspects of rent control was that it kept property prices down, and that he was able to purchase a beautiful San Francisco property. It’s true that property control laws depress property values. How many of our owner members are counting on those depressed properties, in which they’ve invested hard-earned money and sweat equity, to provide a reasonably secure retirement? Both candidates have owned businesses and claim to be strong supporters of small business. Yet they fail to acknowledge their contradictory stand by ignoring S.F. small property owners as the essence of small business.

Amidst all this madness, we soldier on. We were invited by Mayor Newsom to participate in the Soft- Story Task Force, which will help formulate regulations to retrofit our soft-story buildings to prevent devastation in the event of an earthquake. SPOSFI Board Member Robert Noelke, an extremely knowledgeable retired planner and housing inspector, has agreed to represent us, and will suggest some sensible options to the group. We will continue to advocate for property owners, particularly the unique needs of small property owners, and we count on your support: please continue to write letters and call city officials in response to our e-mail alerts, come to our next meeting and meet with a Rent Board Commissioner, and, very importantly, please do remember to renew your membership.

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