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Rent Control – Part 8 Outnumbered 10:1

"Suppose they gave a war and no one came" is the title of a magazine article from 1966 which then became a movie title in 1970.  I was reminded of that phrase yesterday while driving down Peninsula Ave. and crossing over California Ave.   "What if they gave a rally and all of the other side showed up?"  Well the rent controllers found out yesterday when they were outnumbered about 10:1 by the No on Q and R contingent.  This first photo is the rent controllers tiny little gaggle on one corner.

Rally_bad guys

And here is just one of the other three corners that were jammed with No on Q and R supporters.

Rally_good guys

It must have felt a bit like bumping into a hornet's nest.  And that is exactly what the rent controllers have done.  They have put out an egregiously horrid, expensive, unfair ordinance.  The more people that actually read the thing the more PO'ed they get regardless of whether they are landlords, sensible renters or just your average single family homeowner in town.  It would hurt everyone and my sense is it will hurt B'game renters the most if passed.  The only good news is we will know exactly who to blame.

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24 responses to “Rent Control – Part 8 Outnumbered 10:1”

  1. hollyroller@gmail.com

    Joe:
    “It would hurt everyone and my sense is it will hurt Burlingame Renters Big Time.”
    I thought Editors were supposed to be “fair and balanced.”
    That is the most illogical response to any POV I have ever read.
    I am Flabbergasted by your sophomoric editorial.

  2. Joe

    Please explain why you think so. But first I can easily explain why I think so. Some landlords are already reacting by issuing evictions and raising rents, so the damage to renters has already started. More will do so. And if the thing passes, all of the bad things I have already posted will happen:
    –building built before 1995 will be demolished for condos
    –controlled units will see their maintenance reduced
    –costs will rise for many due to the “tax”.
    So Mr. Freshman, what is your response to the sophomore?

  3. hillsider

    Why do you waste your time on him?

  4. Bruce Dickinson

    Bruce Dickinson called it a while back: rent control will be DOA. Behind every one of the anti-rent control people are several hundred who do not show up.
    Looking forward to the swift and decisive defeat!

  5. Mom

    What a tremendous waste of everyone’s time and effort and some people’s money. The only thing worse would be for it to pass.

  6. hollyroller@gmail.com

    Dear Hillsider,
    If it was not for my comments, as well as others, this Site-Burlingame Voice would not be Fun.
    Your “Dead Pan” response’s are priceless.
    Very Irrational, Kooky too.

  7. Bruce Dickinson

    Mom, you are 100% correct! Given Bruce Dickinson’s high opportunity cost of time, as far as I’m concerned, the more time I spend discussing rent control, the more money I’m losing!
    Joe, keep the articles coming though, as it looks like the publicity efforts have borne fruit, as it were!

  8. hollyroller@gmail.com

    So Mr. Dickinson,
    You are, Mr. Bruce Dickinson at the minimum against people living in Burlingame, CA. who can not afford to pay $3-4000.00 a month for a 400 square foot apartment.
    Who, Mr. BD do you feel is worthy of living in Burlingame?
    Minimum yearly income?
    I would appreciate a response from Joe too.
    Dear Joe,
    What do you feel should be the minimum yearly income of a “tenant” living in Burlingame?
    In fact, lets read what your thoughts are on people who work at Restaurants, that we all love, in Burlingame.
    Should they be allowed to live in Burlingame?
    Yes or No should be fine.
    Time for BD to get back on TMZ too.

  9. Bruce Dickinson

    Holly-baby, I’ll entertain your question for a brief moment, as Bruce Dickinson does appreciate my fans and I believe you deserve an answer. I don’t know how much it takes to live in Burlingame and it’s probably a lot. I didn’t know how much it took to live in the Bronx growing up as a child, but I gotta tell ya, my parents struggled and there was no way we could live in Manhattan as the Bronx was barely affordable. The bottom line is, my parents somehow made it work by living in a lower cost area of NYC. Once I moved to Southern California to start my legendary career producing dynamite records, I didn’t buy a house in Topanga. I rented a West Hollywood apartment that was a step up from a roach motel, because that’s all I could afford at the time.
    We have freedom of movement and there are lower cost options on the Peninsula and in other parts of the State/country.
    Having been on the other side of the affordability line, if you will, both as a child and in starting my career, I get the frustration. But at the same time, things like rent control only benefit long-time incumbents in older properties where owners OK with not tearing them down, at the expense of everyone else. What do you think will happen if there is rent control? The same thing that has happened in every single city where it was enacted: Builders will start tearing down old apartments and building condos, townhomes or houses. New tenants that move into existing rental properties will be paying much more than those who got in at the right time. House prices will go even higher and crowd out any sort of single family home rental market. The reasons for not having rent control are not about elitist arguments, they’re about being fair to everyone, new tenants, old tenants, young families, immigrants just coming to this country. In effect, the greatest good for the greatest number of people.
    If Bruce Dickinson were really concerned about economic self-interest I would vote for rent control, as that makes newer rentals more expensive, crowds out single family rentals, thus more people buy houses, resulting in rising owned housing values, and higher incentives to tear down apartment buildings and build new condos/houses. In a few decades, what will be left is a small fraction of long-time renters that get cheap rent at the expense of everyone else. Doesn’t sound fair to me and is anti-populist, but what do I know, I’m just a caveman legendary record producer?!!
    Thanks for soliciting my opinion, but as Joe and several others have stated many many times, rent control benefits only one group of people, that will get smaller and smaller as the years pass.

  10. fred

    Outnumbered 10 to 1? You took a full shot of the group you call the good guys and shot the group you call the bad guys at an angle that hides the fact that group goes pretty far down the block. You can tell by the signs you can see over the cars. Looks more like a 1 to 1 ratio.

  11. kooky hillsider

    Hi Holly. Kooky here. Feeling pretty deadpan tonight. What are you smoking these days? It looks like Mr. D answered most of your questions, so how about answering mine. Do you walk around all day this messed up?

  12. hollyroller@gmail.com

    Fred/Hillsider,
    Who won the Debate last night?
    I am voting for Gary Johnson.
    Mr. Dickinson, are you allowed to vote in the US?

  13. Anon

    Gary Johnson is against rent control. Well known fact. Live free or die.

  14. Joe

    Fred, I think you are being a bit unfair. Not only was I there and you apparently were not, but I noted in the post that I took a photo of one of the “No on R” corners and there were TWO MORE corners as full or more full of “No’s”.
    Plus, if I wanted to massage the message somehow, it would be to overestimate the “Yes on R” crowd to get the No crowd motivated. The key to this is going to be turnout and plenty of people who would be harmed by Measure R still don’t even know what it is.
    So please, keep your conspiracy theories in the realm of reality, OK?

  15. fred

    I’m on the No side. I think the measures are poorly written. I don’t think you need to use funny camera angles and labeling a group of people “bad guys” in order to fight these measures.

  16. Joe

    You are the one who started labeling them good guys and bad guys 6 comments back–not me. I call it a bad ordinance and bad for B’game, and I suggest they would be to blame if it transpired, but you started the good/bad guy dialectic.

  17. fred

    If you put your cursor over the pictures the file names are “Rally_bad guys” and “Rally_good guys”. I didn’t name the picture files.

  18. hollyroller@gmail.com

    Dear Kooky Hillsider,
    If that is all you have in response to my sincere thought, as well as my comments, I am very surprised/impressed that you are capable of using this web site.
    I am not offended by your comments.
    I am just not entertained.

  19. Bruce Dickinson

    Easy fellas, step out of the diapers and into the big boy pants!
    Look, Bruce Dickinson doesn’t care if the pictures are labeled “Bruce Dickinson the genius” or “Old curmudgeons who are really from San Mateo” or if the ratio is 10:1 or 5.8:1…I really don’t care as such details are not relevant. The pictures in and of themselves don’t really demonstrate that much, and while I would have liked to have seen a drone panoramic view just as much as the next guy, I would have to assume that Joe probably didn’t have one of those handy in his back pocket, so I’m gonna take Joe’s word for it that it appeared there were more against measure R than than for.
    Can we not keep the discussion on the merits of the ordinance and how we feel the public is reacting to it, rather than debating petulant things photo angles or labeling??!?
    Talk about low opportunity costs of time, if ya know what I mean?

  20. Joe

    Fred, you are the best. I never actually noticed that little feature of Typepad before.
    I don’t usually remember what shorthand name I use for photos when I want to remember which is which of the 100’s of B’game photos I have archived.
    You win this round on a technicality 🙂
    But now I get to exploit a new feature! Thanks again.

  21. fred

    Thanks Joe!
    Bruss, you’re a bore.

  22. hollyroller@gmail.com

    It is Sir Bruce Dickenson-if not today, soon.
    FYI
    Holly-roller, me, am a WOMAN!
    This web site is a “Boy’s Club,” however I have never been intimidated by male testosterone POV’s.
    I have mentioned this a few times over the years I have “Been here.”
    Typical men not listening.

  23. Joe

    There is a long piece in the Daily Journal today that focuses mainly on Measure Q in San Mateo. Here is the little gem from one of the rent control lawyers that I picked out of the middle of the piece:
    To the extent that there may be a marginal increase on rents for new tenants, the cost is worth it to protect an estimated 30,000 people, Saver said.
    – See more at: http://www.smdailyjournal.com/articles/lnews/2016-10-01/the-divide-of-measure-q-san-mateos-rent-control-tenant-protection-initiative-draws-debate/1776425169179#sthash.6GhQxaba.dpuf
    Nice huh. For all the rent controller rhetoric about “You homeowners got yours. You don’t care about anyone else” here are renters doing the exact same thing to other renters. I wonder what “marginal” increases he thinks are OK?

  24. Mike

    The attorney in question, Daniel Saver is clearly trying to make a name for himself. In the article he also mentions that opponents to R&Q are racists. Well usually that card is played when the ultra progressives feel they may be losing.
    Please come to the Fundraiser to defeat R&Q on 10/5 at Rangoon Ruby on Burlingame Avenue from 5-7PM. It’s for a most worthy cause.

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