Council candidates answers to the rent control question at tonights debates,with a bit of included commentary. The only position that HFHA takes with regard to candidates is that anyone that supports rent protections and democracy should NOT vote for any candidate that supports the yes vote on Hoboken Question #1. Youll notice how quickly the choices narrow based on this. Laura Miani (Ramos ticket) - supports the yes vote. Said that landlords do need to be able to make a reasonable return on their investment (comment: someone please tell her that this is already the law.) After saying that she supports the MSTA initiative she said that tenants need to be protected (comment: now thats a non sequitur if ever there was one) Dave Mello (Zimmer ticket) Rent control is one of the tougher issues that our city faces and weve gone a long way to addressing the issue with some significant changes to the ordinance. The problem that still remains is that the mom & pop landlord is the one that is the most burdened by this law where large corporate landlords are not. Thats where we need to make further revision to equalize out and change. I dont want to pass a law that just when large corporate landlords are at the end of their exemption from having affordable housing in the city. Theres not gonna be any rent control in the city at all. What I want to do instead is preserve rent control and make it such that the small mom & pop landlords that are renting to someone that makes 2-3 times as much is not going to be burdened by rent control, but that the large corporate building, but that the developer that has a large corporate building will. (comment: apologies that weve included such a lengthy synopsis on this one, but it was so unclear what the answer was, that we included a good bit of what Dave said. He never said whether he supported the yes vote or the no vote.) Brittaney Montgomery-Cook (Occhipinti ticket) Said that landlords need to make a reasonable return on their investment. (Comment: Whats with these woman...another person that apparently is clueless) There should be zero tolerance for landlords kicking out their tenants (Comment: The ballot initiative has no protections for tenants that are being kicked out) Said its a difficult situation but that this seems to be the best win-win for both landlord and tenant. (comment: whats the win-win? The ballot initiative? We have to presume that its inferred that she supports the yes vote and the next candidates response confirms this) Peter Biacamono (Occhipinti ticket) Said there is nothing for an elected official to do since this question is on the ballot and he believes that putting it on the ballot was the right thing to do and let the people decide (comment: Points for dumbest candidate so far since the people already decided this last year.) Went on to say with the revaluation coming landlords might start paying double and triple in taxes, forcing them to sell their properties and thats a problem for your small mom & pop owners. Agreed with Brittaney is voting yes on this because it does give the landlord a fair and equitable return. Occhipinti team will not tolerate any landlord abuse to tenants and will hire a tenant advocate attorney to protect tenants rights. (comment: They just wont have any protections and therefore this advocate attorney will be paid to tell tenant after tenant that there is nothing that s/he can do for them.) Jim Doyle (Zimmer ticket) Started by saying that he does NOT support the initiative petition. Reitteratted that he is not in favor of this questions that was written by one side and put forward as a yes or no, he is in favor of working with both sides and finding cures as his running mates did with ordinance Z-88 that put forward protections for some of the abuses that were occurring. (Comment: Well forgive Jim for not knowing that Z-88 was so poorly written it is causing some unintended and unnecessary consequences of which he is unaware. We also trust that, since he was apparently referring to tenants abusing the laws and so the need for Z-88 that he would be willing to make changes to stop landlords from abusing tenants...well, wed like to think that.) Edwardo Gonzoles (Ramos ticked) The rent control law that we have is outdated and needs to be improved. The rent control question going on the ballot represents a failure of our city council and failed leadership. Said we should review ordinances from across the country and make sure that the rent control ordinance is fair to both landlords and tenants. Doesnt think the issues can be solved with a simple yes or no on the ballot. (comment: Kinda, sorta, maybe hes taking a no vote position....but, its not really clear) Joe Mindak (Ramos ticket) Said hes a tenant and also an owner of condos. He believes a landlord should be able to charge whatever they want. Being a landlord and a business owner he believes that when he invests his money he should be able to get a certain rate of return and fair market value. He believes this should have been handled on the council before it came to a referendum, but personally he will be voting yes. (comment: We guess hes saying that the council should have repealed rent control so it wouldnt have to go on the ballot. This guys a dick.) Frank Raia (Occhipinti ticket) Said we should have a city council that wants to build affordable housing. Anyone that spent 2mm on a condo shouldnt have to be under rent control. Thinks that crazy. One family houses and condos should be exempt from rent control. Told some BS story about a landlord that was told he could only charge $250/mo or something. He wants affordable housing for the seniors and the people that need it. (comment: no he didnt say that he supports the ballot initiative, but well, we all know that MSTA contributed 42K to his campaign last year...nuff said.) Patricia Waiters (independent) Said shes attended a lot of the rent control meetings and she is urging everyone to vote NO. Shes tired of seeing u-haul trucks in Hoboken because the landlord harassed people out to raise the rent. Its like a scare tactic. No disrespect to any owner, but if someone lived in the unit all their life...and shame on the administration for letting the policy sit there since 1978, all the past mayors and this administration and ignore the ordinance instead of doing something about it. Said we deserve to live here, we cant afford condos and no one is doing anything about about affordable housing. Please vote NO on Nov. 5th Ravi Bhalla (Zimmer ticket) Served as the rent board attorney for 2 years and learned some of the challenges. Said the council members represent Hoboken, they dont represent landlords and they dont represent tenants. (comment: actually you do represent landlords AND tenants but we think we understand what youre attempting to say.) Said they craft legislation that allows landlords to get a reasonable return/value, but also protects tenants and preserves a critical part of affordable housing. Is proud that he did that with Z-88 that protected landlords while strengthening some of the tenant protections (comment: Sorry, Ravi - Z-88 did nothing to strengthen tenant protections) which withstood a referendum challenge. With respect to this new ordinance thats on the ballot (comment: its not new, it was voted down last year.) He respectfully disagrees and is asking people to vote NO. The reason why is because the penalty provisions are too weak - they dont have any teeth in order to protect tenants. We shouldnt be legislating rent control through referendum.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 04:55:51 +0000