PUBLIC FORUM\Readers rebut editorial favoring Prop. 199.Normally, I tend to agree with most of the political endorsements by the editorial staff of the Daily News. However, I must take issue with the editorial ("Time for decontrol de·con·trol tr.v. de·con·trolled, de·con·trol·ling, de·con·trols To stop control of, especially by the government: decontrolled oil and natural-gas prices. ," March 15) in favor of Proposition 199, regarding rent control in mobile-home parks. It appears several important issues have been missed. One is a problem brought out by some previous writers regarding the unsalability of their homes because of large rent increases to the new owners. However, the most important issue, not addressed in any letters I've seen published nor in the editorial, is the issue of control. Who should have control? Local rents are just that - local. This proposition takes that control and gives it to the state. It prevents city and county governments from ever again setting up their own local rent control programs. It seems to me that local government officials - city councils, county boards of supervisors - have a better understanding of local issues and needs than the rest of the state. Rent control should be a strictly local issue, based on local economic and political needs and conditions. This proposition says that everyone else in the state knows local conditions better than the people living in any particular area. - Jerry Schwartz Granada Hills As a 13-year owner of mobile homes, I must strongly disagree with Verb 1. disagree with - not be very easily digestible; "Spicy food disagrees with some people" hurt - give trouble or pain to; "This exercise will hurt your back" William Allen's March 14 article ("Chance to reverse failed policy") and your editorial of March 15 urging an end to rent control of mobile-home parks. I also disagree that mobile-home park construction has all but stopped because of rent control. California's mobile-home residency law exempts newly constructed mobile-home parks from any city or county rent control ordinance. Also, any lease between mobile-home owners and park management over 12 months' duration (and most of them are) are also exempt from any local rent control ordinance. Mobile-home owners live under a two-edged sword in that they are able to afford the monthly expenses associated with the mobile home itself, but they are at the mercy of the park owners regarding the ever-increasing rents they must endure for keeping their homes in the park. Apartment residents can move out if they can no longer afford the rent. Mobile-home owners cannot simply pick up their 1,500- to 2,000-square-foot units and go elsewhere. They must try to sell their homes, usually at greatly depressed prices Depressed price In the context of stocks, stock whose market price is low in comparison to stocks in its sector. due to high space rents - or sometimes walk away from them altogether. - Tony Roberts Topanga I live in a mobile-home park. I will retire in four years. I will not be able to afford my space rent and mortgage. I will not be able to sell my home if rent control is abolished. If you look around the parks now, you will see many empty spaces due to the earthquake. Without rent control, you will see even more. They won't need new parks New Parks is an area in the city of Leicester, England. It is in the west of the city, close by the county border (west of which is Glenfield. South of New Parks is the Western Parks area, and to the east is the Newfound Pool area. . They will have old empty ones. - Margaret Archer Margaret Archer is Professor of Sociology at the University of Warwick, UK, since 1973. She is one of the most influential theorists in the critical realist tradition. At the 12th World Congress of Sociology, she was elected as the first woman President of the International Mission Hills Anyone I know who has purchased a mobile home in the last 10 years cannot sell that home for what is owed on it, much less make a profit. The only ones making a profit are mobile-home dealers and park owners, who are buying foreclosures at giveaway prices and reselling them low enough to keep the market prices down. You are absolutely right that this is a "marketplace issue," but take a closer look at who is controlling that marketplace. - Marie Ostrom Saugus As a senior member of the city of Los Angeles' Council on Aging Housing Division, I am disgusted by the lies and phony rhetoric being fed to your readers by the architects of Proposition 199. Let me tell you the truth - the good the bad and the ugly - about Proposition 199. There is no good - only bad and ugly. The sole purpose of Proposition 199 is to eliminate affordable housing and line the deep pockets of the landowners, period. - Bernhard B. Perlin Canoga Park Rent control was enacted for a variety of reasons. One very big reason is that mobile homes are not affordable housing when the rents go up to price people out. Think about owning a house but paying rent on the land it sits on: The rent has gone up to where you can't afford both payments. You try to sell the house, but can't find a buyer who wants to put himself in your bad situation. - Cathy M. Warf Lancaster In rebuttal rebuttal n. evidence introduced to counter, disprove or contradict the opposition's evidence or a presumption, or responsive legal argument. to William Allen's article on the Opinion Page, March 14: There has been no rent control on new mobile-home parks since 1990 so that negates the argument that rent control is the reason that no new parks have been built. At the Top-O-Topanga Mobile Home Park where I live, of 217 spaces, 91 are vacant. This "economic eviction The removal of a tenant from possession of premises in which he or she resides or has a property interest done by a landlord either by reentry upon the premises or through a court action. " started when the county of Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. removed rent control. The rent in my park ranges from $714 to $870 per month. Now I ask you: Is this monthly rental rate not a healthy return on a 70-foot by 50-foot piece of dirt? - Virginia Croft CROFT, obsolete. A little close adjoining to a dwelling-house, and enclosed for pasture or arable, or any particular use. Jacob's Law Dict. Topanga Proposition 199 is one of the most misleading propositions ever to be put on a ballot. It is not only misleading - it is an absolute abuse of the initiative process. Without rent control, our homes are virtually unsalable Un`sal´a`ble a. 1. Not salable; unmerchantable. Adj. 1. unsalable - impossible to sell unsaleable salable, saleable - capable of being sold; fit for sale; "saleable at a low price" except at giveaway prices. - Pat Lowery low·er·y also lour·y adj. Overcast; threatening. Chatsworth If there can be a "rebuttal to a rebuttal" or a concurrence CONCURRENCE, French law. The equality of rights, or privilege which several persons-have over the same thing; as, for example, the right which two judgment creditors, Whose judgments were rendered at the same time, have to be paid out of the proceeds of real estate bound by them. Dict. de Jur. h.t. to a so-called "one-sided" view, please add our names to the list of those that agree with Dennis McCarthy's March 7 column regarding Proposition 199. We, as a chamber of commerce, studied this proposition in detail. The loopholes we discovered caused great concern; concern for our senior citizens and low-income housing that could be "phased out." We see instead the "phasing-in" of profits for those not in need. - Kathy Anthony, President Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce Roz Nelson, Chairman Government Affairs Mountain lions Your editorial endorsement (March 14) of Proposition 197, the mountain lion "management" proposition, is just dead wrong and demands rebuttal. The Department of Fish and Game, through Proposition 117, already has complete and full authority to identify problem lions and problems areas and "manage" - read track and kill - lions threatening life or property. Proposition 117 also required the department to formulate statewide population studies and "management plans," so this new proposition brings nothing new to the party. Contrary to what your editorial contends, Proposition 197 does indeed open the door to hunting. If it didn't, there would be no need for this proposition, since all management powers already exist under Proposition 117. - Jan Brown Janet (Jan) Corinne Brown (born June 22, 1947 in Nanaimo, British Columbia) is a former Canadian politician of Croatian descent. She was first elected as a Member of Parliament under the Reform Party of Canada ticket in the Alberta riding of Calgary Southeast in the 1993 federal Van Nuys Using the guise of management of these magnificent animals, the Daily News was sucked into the diatribe di·a·tribe n. A bitter, abusive denunciation. [Latin diatriba, learned discourse, from Greek diatrib of the various gun associations that are drooling drooling the discharge of saliva from the mouth. A normal feature in some breeds of dogs such as St. Bernard, Newfoundland and English bulldog, presumably because of their loose, pendulous lips. at the thought of engaging in uncontrolled trophy hunting Trophy hunting is the selective hunting of wild game. While parts of the slain animal may be kept as a hunting trophy or memorial (usually the skin, antlers and/or head), the carcass itself is usually used as food. Trophy hunting has firm supporters and opponents. by hunters displaying their machismo machismo Exaggerated pride in masculinity, perceived as power, often coupled with a minimal sense of responsibility and disregard of consequences. In machismo there is supreme valuation of characteristics culturally associated with the masculine and a denigration of and anger on mountain lions. It is ironic to note that when mountain lions invade the domain of humans, the lions are killed, and when humans invade the domain of lions, the mountain lions are killed. Did I miss something here? - Jay Karelius Granada Hills Regarding "Ploy of sport hunting is not necessary" by Maurice H. Getty, Opinions, March 13: Getty stated that it was not necessary to sport-hunt these animals, that they can be taken when they come into your neighborhood. Well, I don't believe that waiting for your dog to be taken away or your child to be maimed maim tr.v. maimed, maim·ing, maims 1. To disable or disfigure, usually by depriving of the use of a limb or other part of the body. See Synonyms at batter1. 2. is the way to manage the lion. He also stated that hunting could lead to the local extinction Local extinction is where a species (or other taxon) ceases to exist in the chosen area of study, but still exists elsewhere. This phenomenon is also known as extirpation. Local extinctions are contrasted with global extinctions. of lions in heavily hunted areas. I know that is not the way the Department of Fish and Game manages animals. Only so many animals are allowed to be taken and then the hunt is called off. So let Fish and Game employees do the job they are trained to do and remember that hunters do a lot for wildlife conservation. - Richard Madison Lancaster So long as sport hunting remains legal, there's no reason the Department of Fish and Game shouldn't allow hunting if it sees fit. - Steven Levin Van Nuys Groups like the National Rifle Association National Rifle Association (NRA) Governing organization for the sport of shooting with rifles and pistols. It was founded in Britain in 1860. The U.S. organization, formed in 1871, has a membership of some four million. Both the British and the U.S. and Safari Club International Safari Club International is an international organization composed of hunters. SCI claims to have approximately 48,700 members and 176 local chapters. [1] back this misleading proposition under the promise of public safety. This issue to ban mountain lion trophy hunting was decided by Californians in 1990 when Proposition 117 was passed, allowing the killing of only those lions that are a threat to livestock or people. - Asia Real Newbury Park Van Nuys wins some respect Many thanks to the Daily News for listening to a legitimate concern that our community has had for many years. We feel Van Nuys has received more than its fair share, and too many unfair shares, of bad publicity. I refer to the unfair usage of "Van Nuys" as the dateline in reporting news from the Van Nuys courts. For many years, residents and business owners in Van Nuys have complained that we get a bad rap because many of the criminal cases tried at the Van Nuys Municipal and Superior Courts don't involve people from Van Nuys. A perfect example of the unfair usage of "Van Nuys" is in the case of the Menendez brothers, who lived in Beverly Hills Beverly Hills, city (1990 pop. 31,971), Los Angeles co., S Calif., completely surrounded by the city of Los Angeles; inc. 1914. The largely residential city is home to many motion-picture and television personalities. , but are being tried in Van Nuys. Many of us have made numerous calls to both newspapers regarding this issue. Soon after my last call to the Daily News, it became apparent that, with a couple of exceptions, it had made a sincere effort to rectify this unfair practice of using Van Nuys datelines for every case tried in Van Nuys courts. We challenge the Los Angeles Times Los Angeles Times Morning daily newspaper. Established in 1881, it was purchased and incorporated in 1884 by Harrison Gray Otis (1837–1917) under The Times-Mirror Co. (the hyphen was later dropped from the name). to extend our community the same consideration. - Prudy Schultz Director Van Nuys Homeowners Association CAPTION(S): PHOTO Photo In court Erik and Lyle Menendez are from Beverly Hills, not Van Nuys. Daily News |
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