By Niels P. Hansen
I enjoy the SMDP’s ongoing and mostly balanced coverage of the debate between landlords and renters (“First-come, first-served,” May 19-20). I began renting an apartment here in 1986. Complaining that someone with rent control is causing others to pay more is similar to complaining about someone who purchased Starbucks stock in 1992 when it was only $3 per share. Now we pay $30. It’s fair for anyone to enjoy the benefits of one’s foresight. I’m sure landlords would agree.
I was not just lucky to rent my apartment. Rent control was the only way I could afford to live here at 19 (years of age) and contribute to the community all these years. One simple example of my contributions was working as an EMT in Santa Monica Hospital’s Emergency Room immediately after the Northridge earthquake... a local caring for locals.
With few exceptions, we don’t need to feel sorry for landlords. Perhaps there are still some landlords today who owned in Santa Monica before the imposition of rent control. All the other landlords knew the rules when they invested here. Yet some of them continually strive to increase their profit by manipulating the legal system and changing the rules, even as they enjoy skyrocketing long-term real estate values and equity.
They have been largely successful. I wonder when someone will mount a legal campaign that argues we should change the rules so anyone who purchased Starbucks at $3 should go back and reimburse Starbucks at today’s rates.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 22, 2007. Read the original PDF.