With time running out, Alameda County supervisors kick package of rental housing ordinances two weeks down the road
Even with a majority, pro-renter supes couldn't get ordinances approved on Tuesday
COUNTY NEWS
—RENTERS RIGHTS SHOWDOWN—For most of this year, county staff has worked diligently in crafting a trio of new housing rights for landlords and renters in unincorporated Alameda County. But, despite all the work with shareholders and public outreach, both sides appeared on Tuesday afternoon to be as far apart as ever.
—“I don’t feel there’s been incremental movement,” said Sandra Rivera, interim Alameda County Community Development Agency director. “Landlords want the least amount of protections and renters want the most amount of protections.”
—The three ordinances, constituting a “Phase 1” of housing protections in unincorporated Alameda County, include:
Rent Registry Ordinance - Self-explanatory. Tracks number of rental units.
Fair Chance Ordinance – Prohibits landlords from searching rental applicant’s criminal record as part of consideration of tenancy.
Just Cause Ordinance – Prohibits landlords from evicting tenants without a specific cause.
—Not only couldn’t landlords and renters agree on the ordinances, but the Board of Supervisors, even though they possess a majority of pro-renter supervisors, failed to get the ordinances passed on Tuesday evening.
—Time is specifically of the essence if the badly-needed rental housing ordinances have any chance of passing in their present form this month.
—That’s because the slim 3-2 advantage of pro-renter supervisors (Supervisors Dave Brown, Keith Carson, and Richard Valle) will likely vanish next January when Supervisor-elect Lena Tam takes over for Brown in District 3. Tam was strongly backed by landlords during her campaign to permanently replace late-Supervisor Wilma Chan.
—After nearly five hours of public testimony on Tuesday afternoon, Brown offered a slate of amendments to the three ordinances. They ultimately failed, including one significant change that would have removed a exemption in the just cause ordinance for landlords with four or fewer rental units.
—Carson, an ally on the issue, fumed that Brown’s late-arriving amendments was the “most underhanded” move ever done to him during his more than two decades on the board. Carson said he could not support the amendments because he had no time to weigh their impacts on the proposed ordinances.
—Brown’s misfire threw the ordinance’s prospects in disarray. In effort to salvage them, Valle moved to allow county counsel two more weeks to pour over the amendments and return with a report to the board at its regular meeting on Dec. 20.
—If approved prior to Christmas, the ordinances would need a second reading before becoming law, thereby, creating a very short window for the board to act prior to Tam’s arrival next month.
—The second phase of the county’s rental housing ordinances, primarily rent stabilization, however, is likely dead for the same reason.
—Although Tam’s campaign rhetoric when it came to rental housing in unincorporated Alameda County was quite measured, again, most observers believe she will side with landlords on the issue and team with Miley and Haubert to create a majority that will oppose rent stabilization, at least, in any meaningful form.
—COVID UPDATE—Alameda County Public Health Officer Dr. Nicholas Moss told the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday that “increased viral circulation” signals “likely the start of our winter Covid wave.” Respiratory illnesses, however, may have peaked in Alameda County, but could continue to circulate. Rates of influenza are also on the rise, Moss said..
CITY NEWS
SAN LEANDRO
—COUNCIL POWER GRAB—San Leandro Councilmember Fred Simon’s wants to remove the city clerk from under the auspices of the city manager and place the position under the authority of the city council.
—Simon’s move comes after he once attempted to bring the city’s police chief under control of the council, and last month, when he was able to pass a significantly watered-down ordinance to increase the council’s pay.
—The reasoning for switching the city clerk to the council’s control is unclear, other than it appears to fit into Simon’s worldview for bolstering the council’s political power over the city manager. “Why are we doing this?,” San Leandro Councilmember Pete Ballew bluntly said on two occasions on Monday night.
—After the second query, Simon suggested either the city manager or city clerk may have committed some type of personnel infraction. “There is information that we can’t talk about,” Simon told Ballew, “because it was discussed in closed session.”
—One of the specific reasons for when councilmembers can keep information private is when it involves personnel matters. The other main reason is discussions surrounding lawsuits.
—DALI LAMA BECKONS—San Leandro Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter and Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf are part of a contingent of U.S. mayors that were summoned to India for an audience with the Dali Lama. Cutter paid her own way to South Asia, the city noted.
—Unfortunately for San Leandro and Oakland residents the enlightenment gleaned from the Dali Lama will go to waste in the public realm. Both mayors are termed out of office this month.
LEGISLATURE
—GAS CANNED—State Sen. Nancy Skinner, the upper house’s budget guru, is carrying Gov. Gavin Newsom’s windfall tax on excess oil company profits. The proposed legislation was released by the governor’s office on Monday afternoon after the day’s dueling swearing-in sessions.