much public outrage, creators of the rental housing inspection program
-- which they say was intended to deter crime and blight in Eureka --
have revised the ordinance and will be bringing it before the City
Council on Tuesday night.
In April, Councilman Larry Glass
pulled the ordinance off the council's agenda after complaints were
aired about the proposed citywide inspection program, saying he wanted
to allow for more public comment.
The latest version is a
complaint-driven program that aims to improve the city's rental housing
conditions overall by enabling staff to better implement existing
building, fire, zoning, nuisance, health and safety codes, according to
a staff report. The ordinance will draw on existing codes and plans on
staffing less than two positions to coordinate and assist in the
followup of code compliance. The program is estimated to cost property
owners about $35 a year per unit.
”I'm doing this to help try
and clean up Eureka, that's what this is about,” Glass said, adding
that the ordinance is meant to be a landlord licensing program. “Eureka
has a terrible crime problem and law enforcement is not the only way to
get about it.”
Glass said the previous drafts had morphed into
something he hadn't felt completely comfortable with, so he was glad
for an opportunity to address the community's concerns.
”It's good that we got that cleaned up and scrutinized as well,” he said. “I'm real satisfied with it now."
Local
attorney Greg Allen said he has paid special attention to the ordinance
and its privacy issues. Changing the program to being complaint driven
may not be enough, he said.
”I'm concerned that these
complaints can originate from city staff as well as neighbors,” Allen
said. “What are the safeguards? What are the limits in terms of what
city staff can do? Can they come on the property, look in windows?”
While
he is concerned with staff being able to go fishing for violations,
Allen said he did see some positive things in the document, such as
stronger protection against retaliatory evictions. While the state does
not allow a landlord to evict a tenant for six months after the tenant
submits a complaint, Eureka's ordinance would extend the period to one
year.
”I've really been impressed with the sincerity of Mr.
Glass and the city attorney on this,” Allen said. “I really do believe
that they're trying to be very constructive. Their desire is not to
turn Eureka into a police state.”
Bev Hart, who manages 325
units in Eureka through Coldwell Banker Cutten Realty, said she thinks
a complaint-driven program does not have any safeguards for landlords.
”It's
all against the big bad landlord,” she said, adding that the ordinance
creates a one-sided situation. In addition, Hart said it's unfair to
landlords who are diligent about taking care of their properties.
”Punishing the good landlords to punish the bad ones is not a fair way to do it,” she said.
Hart
added that she thinks the council is moving forward too fast and not
taking time to gather public comment through a meeting or forum.
Glass
said the ordinance process allows for public comment, and he has
received a lot of feedback from various groups and residents about the
matter. He said there are also plans to hold a public forum on the
issue later in the month.
A copy of the proposed ordinance is available with the City Council meeting packet, online at www.ci.eureka.ca.gov.
Donna Tam can be reached at 441-0532 or dtam@times-standard.com.
FAIR USE NOTICE. This document may contain copyrighted material the use of which may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Tenants Together is making this article available on our website in an effort to advance the understanding of tenant rights issues in California. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.