By Rob Martin Santa Monica
[David Pisarra], as usual, your column, “Condos don’t create great neighborhoods,” page 4, July 15, is the most reasoned and articulate, in a town where most articles are just Op-Ed pieces posing as journalism in fishwrap.
But I think you miss two points. The last one, is where you critique the government for “what they allow.”
Actually, the current luxury-condo focus is the direct result of what the government does not allow. The rent control party has reigned for 30 years. Condo construction is the only way out at this time. The powers-that-be do not allow property owners market rents; they do not allow rational building designs. And with rent control now applying to new construction (Los Angeles), no non-insider investors will build income property. The second is your basic thesis that condos are anti-social. While true at face value (and at the seven-figure price tag), they don’t have to be. I have lived in apartments and condos almost my entire adult life. So long as they have common outdoor entrances, patios, terraces, not interior carpeted hallways, I’ve always known my neighbors. Design is the key. Naturally, I blame the [Architectural Review Board], which is packed with {Santa Monicans for Renters Rights] appointees.
TORCA conversion of existing rental housing stock “preserved” about 2,000 units, maintaining existing architecture and density. It did not keep the same tenant base (historically, renters take the buyout of their purchase option). But SMRR sees any form of private ownership as a threat to their political power, so they killed off TORCA.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on July 19, 2008. Read the original PDF.