Lily’s Diary
by Lily
September 10
A few days after I put a “Newsom” sign in the front window, a much larger sign saying, “Matt Gonzalez for Mayor,” appeared in my tenant’s window upstairs. Not only that, the sign is crooked. I reviewed my options and bitterly regretted that the free speech amendment is interpreted so broadly. In my fantasy, I imagined having a heart to heart with the not unreasonable Margo, whose apartment it is in. I would tell her about the blind spot Matt Gonzalez has to the situation of owners of rent-controlled apartments. But how could she be expected to sympathize? Even when you’re a landlord, it’s hard to reconcile the appealing, soft spoken president of the board with the views he espouses. He carried the Tenants Union’s 13-point legislation without blinking an eye. I take that back. I noticed that he did indeed seem a little embarrassed at the hearing when folks pointed out that he was defending the use of rent-controlled apartments as second homes. Gonzalez recently told a friend that he felt the tax break on mortgage interest and Prop. 13 tax restrictions should be enough for property owners (they didn’t need to receive profit on their rentals). Besides confirming his familiar anti-business bias, he reveals an immense ignorance of how the real world works, the contribution to the city by rental housing providers and the political conditions under which we must operate.
September 16
When I scraped the grease off the cabinets and walls of the kitchen in Apt. 4, I was thinking dark, politically incorrect thoughts about the ethnic culinary practices of the ex-tenant. Then I thought of another tenant, of a different nationality, who also fried a lot of food and that reminded me of still a third who did the same. It dawned on me that the whole reason for the inroad of ethnic food into the American diet is because food from other countries is frequently cooked in oil, heavily seasoned and, well, it tastes better. How bad was the grease? Well, in desperation I got out the “Oven Off” and sprayed the wall over the stove. That actually worked pretty well, although I nearly fainted with the fumes. It was when I sprayed it on the oak cabinet doors that I got into trouble. Don’t do that. It left dark marks where the spray initially hit the wood. I tried to minimize them by staining the door again but, alas, it just made the marks darker.
September 24
It baffles me why it’s so hard for tenants to get along with each other. My friend Robert says it’s this territorial thing we seen to have hard-wired in us. I’ve noticed it myself, too. Maybe we’re stuck at some transitional point in evolution that makes cheek-to-cheek city living so annoying. Why does it make me testy when the neighbor’s vine keeps creeping over into my yard? Why do I see red when people let their dogs take a whiz in my shrubs or when the uphill neighbor’s watering runs onto my walkways? This prickliness doesn’t stop at the boundary of my property either. I feel huffy when neighbors leave their garbage cans (their increased size now such an assertive scale in the landscape) on the street for days at a time, or park unused cars in the same parking space for the whole week only to reappear in nearly the same place immediately after street sweeping. I also feel upset when untended street trees are allowed to take on the shape of tortured birds of prey. Petty, isn’t it? But try as I may, these little things eat away at me. I must not be alone, because a neighbor who has a full 10 inches of front lawn has just posted a sign that betrays a kind of desperation. It says, “Your Dog Stinks.”
September 29
At a recent SFAA meeting, Executive Director Janan New reminded us to use party manners with all the supervisors, no matter how we feel inside. And she’s right. Now that I know Jake McGoldrick cast the pivotal vote to quash a voter-selected Rent Board Commission, I wish I could retract some of the things I’ve said about him in the past. I think he made this reasonable decision simply because he was a former commissioner himself and knew first-hand how important balance is for the effectiveness of the commission. All this goes to show that if a supervisor, even McGoldrick, actually understands the issue at hand, no matter how progressive he or she is, there is a much greater chance for a reasonable vote. That’s where our job comes in: to putting a personal face on property owners. We must take it upon ourselves to write those letters, make those phone calls and, most important, not be afraid to speak out at community meetings. Let them know the real-life hardships of the small property owner under the current rent ordinance.
October 1
I’ve been having Julio paint vacant apartments for the last few years (after I’ve done a thorough cleaning myself), but lately I really can’t afford it so I’m back on the ladder relearning the things that had once been second nature. For instance, I forgot that you don’t thin out flat latex paint if you’re trying to make it a one-coat job. I’ve also made several other discoveries: they’ve improved masking tape with a wide paper tape only partially gummed; a battery-operated screwdriver is absolutely necessary for removing door handles and face plates; and wet brushes and rollers should be wrapped tightly in plastic when you take a break or even stop for the night. I even remembered to bring hotel shower caps to cover my head along with a lamp on a long cord to check for holidays on those walls where the “sun don’t shine.” The missed patches aren’t apparent with a direct light, but an oblique light reveals everything. I had also forgotten that painting is a philosophic pastime. One tends to ruminate. For instance I decided that how well you paint inside a closet is as good a measure of your integrity as anything else.
October 5
I laughed (bitterly) when I heard mayoral candidate Angela “the Heart of San Francisco” Alioto proclaim herself the friend of small business, “which built this town.” And then she went on, barely taking a breath, to defend rent control because “many people couldn’t afford to live in San Francisco otherwise.” Somehow she, and candidates like her, just don’t make the connection. They simply can’t be for both apparently, because for many of us (dare I say “most” of us?) our buildings are small businesses. Not only that, many are small businesses owned by seniors who are trying to eke out a retirement income. Sure, there will always be those in society who need a hand in meeting the costs of housing, but these subsidies should come out of taxes, not from a small subset of property owners. Caring for the needy is everyone’s responsibly.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the SFAA or the San Francisco Apartment Magazine. A longtime rental property owner who reserves the right to remain anonymous on the grounds that her tenants might gang up on her writes “Lily’s Diary.” Comments, corrections or ideas are welcome at lilysdiary@aol.com. Copyright © 2003 San Francisco Apartment Magazine