By Robert V. Heldman Santa Monica
I read with interest your front page story of 07/22/02 “City to Raise Icon’s Rent” in which it was pointed out that the city manager of Santa Monica asked the City Council to raise the rent currently paid by a beachside hot dog stand (Hot Dog on a Stick) from $550 per month to a “market-rate rent” of $2,200 per month — a 300 percent increase. The hot dog stand has been in the same location since 1945.
I, too, like the City Council, am a landlord in Santa Monica but cannot raise rents to “market rate” unless my tenant voluntarily vacates the unit — which the hot dog stand has not done. This year, provided I have pre-paid my tenant’s rent control fees to the Rent Control Board 13 months in advance, I am allowed to increase my tenant’s rent by $11 per month, versus $1,650 per month the city is allowed to increase its tenant’s (the hot dog stand) rent!
In that same article, it was explained that the city ended its month-to-month lease with the Boathouse restaurant on the pier, for which it was receiving $5,559 in basic monthly rent and fees. The city then leased the building to Bubba Gump Shrimp for $12,306, a monthly increase of $6,747 or 120 percent! If I, as a landlord, attempted to replace a perceived undesirable tenant with a more desirable one, I would be prosecuted by the city attorney for “harassment” and subject to considerable penalties and fines.
Is this double standard between a citizen as a landlord and the city as a landlord a beautiful thing or what?
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 27, 2002. Read the original PDF.