Lily's Diary
by Lily
December 5
My cousin Harry has a building in the Inner Mission that appears on the San Francisco Tenants Union’s blacklist for having had an owner move-in (OMI) eviction some 15 years ago. Obviously, this is not something you want posted online if you intend to sell a building. It means that if the buyer intends to live there, he or she can only replace a tenant occupying the very same apartment in which the OMI occurred. The San Francisco Rent Ordinance says that this action designates the apartment as the “owner’s unit” forever, which, as we know, is a long, long time. The problem in Harry’s case is that it never happened. There was an eviction, yes, but it was for a long list of reasons including five bounced checks, and did not involve occupancy by Harry or his family. He complained to the Rent Board, but they said they got their figures from the Tenants Union. Back at the Tenants Union he was asked for proof that it was in fact an eviction for justifiable causes. Harry brought in the documents, including the court decision. But that wasn’t enough. They said that, since the unit had been on the OMI list for over ten years, it couldn’t be removed. They did, however, offer to place an asterisk by the listing saying that it was contested and that the owner’s proof of a non-encumbered eviction was available. In the meantime, Harry put the building on the market and, since the OMI eviction never happened, obviously didn’t disclose it. Now he’s worried that he might get sued by a new owner if he or she sees it on the list at some later time. The fact that there is no redress for a Tenants Union accusation shows how far things have gone.
December 10
My pal Maggie, who is totally jaded regarding local politics, says that the fact that San Francisco’s voters happily passed every single measure on the November ballot (save one) came as no surprise. As for me, well, call me naive, but I was shocked. Six of them were put on the ballot by the supervisors at the last minute. The impeachment of the president aside, most of them sounded reasonable and could have been legislated in some fashion with the added benefit of economic analysis, discussion and public input. But, as it stands now, each will open its own particular can of worms. Take the sick days for workers: a fine and noble sentiment, but what about the part-time employees of mom-and-pop businesses? Teleconferencing for supervisors and commissioners on parental leave is a lovely idea, but what about officials who are ill for other reasons, and what about the cost of the hardware and personnel needed to provide every board and commission access to a mobilized video crew to record the fallen official? Opposing chain stores is just more hypocrisy by those who think our lives would be better without Walgreens, Starbucks or Home Depot. (What planet are they living on?) The nonbinding measure to prioritize senior housing is nothing more than the reinforcement of a “protected” class of tenants, irrespective of real need. Proposition H, the bill to further extort landlords who need the use of a unit they own, passed easily. Hey, why not? The voters (a majority of whom are renters) aren’t paying. The only local measure that didn’t pass was one in which these magnanimous San Franciscans would themselves have to cough up extra money—Proposition E, the parking tax.
December 18
The new couple in Apartment 4 called last week saying their heater wouldn’t go off at night and there was something wrong with the thermostat. The minute I stepped into the apartment I regretted that morning’s choice of a turtleneck sweater. It was hot enough to raise bread dough. Jennifer and her husband are a thirty-something couple with a four-month-old baby. From the tropical condition of the interior, I think she wants to jumpstart its growth—kind of like forcing narcissus bulbs. I went to the thermostat and saw it was set for 82 degrees. I asked her if she knew it was set that high. “I have to set it that high to get it to go on at all,” was her reply, “and then it won’t turn off.” After a rather frustrating back and forth, I discovered that in trying to get the heat level she wanted, she had been ratcheting up the temperature setting. She had it set so high that it couldn’t possibly ever go off. And they wondered why it was “malfunctioning” at night. We got that settled and I was congratulating myself for handling the situation so competently when she told me she was worried about the heater’s effect on the baby and wanted to have it checked for carbon dioxide emission. Smart as I was, I still didn’t avoid a service call.
December 29
The period between holidays is my favorite. Calm descends over the city. Everybody stops to take a breath. I sleep in. In fact, I was in that delicious period between sleep and awake this morning when it dawned on me that there might be a diabolical master plan behind all the recent anti-property owner legislation. In this sinister plan concocted by my semiconsciousness, Supervisors Aaron Peskin, Tom Ammiano, Chris Daly and Ross Mirkarimi are competing with each other to put us all out of business so that we will have to sell out at a low price to the Tenderloin Housing Clinic (or some other nonprofit holding the city’s master leases). Then, having bought them cheap, they could lease them back to the city as “affordable housing.” Don’t laugh. It started to happen in Portland, Oregon, in the early 1990s and went even further in Hartford, Connecticut. The government leased so much of the town for social services that the private sector shriveled and Hartford became what some characterized as a tiny socialist country in the middle of New England.
January 15
Speaking of the Board of Supervisors, last November’s election brought one tiny ray of hope. I’m speaking, of course, of Ed Jew’s victory in District 4 (Outer Sunset). Don’t let the fact that he owns a Chinatown flower shop deceive you into thinking that Jew is some affable neighborhood type. For years he’s been an outspoken and courageous activist for fiscal responsibility and increased oversight on citywide issues like public power, garbage and water. He may be in flowers, but he’s no shrinking violet. And he was single-handedly taking on these complicated and decidedly unglamorous battles long before he ever ran for office. His pick of Barbara Meskunas as a legislative aide speaks volumes. Head of the San Francisco Taxpayers’ Union and former president of the National Association of Cooperative Housing, Meskunas will strongly support fairness for property owners. So I chose to face the new year with optimism. But, as I said, I tend to be a little naïve.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoint of the SFAA or SF Apartment Magazine. “Lily’s Diary” is written by a longtime rental property owner who reserves the right to remain anonymous on the grounds that her tenants might gang up on her. Comments, corrections or ideas are welcome at lilysdiary@aol.com. Copyright © 2007 by SF Apartment Magazine. All rights reserved.