Prop 98 is Fueled by Avarice and Greed

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Lynda Carson

Realtors and landlords see gold in Proposition 98, and have united to spend millions on their campaign to end tenant protections and eliminate rent control throughout the state of California.

In recent weeks during the month of May, Thomas Coates and the San Francisco real estate investment firm called Arroyo and Coates, has contributed around $950,000 to the Prop 98 campaign, and since early April 2008 the California Association of Realtors has contributed around $675,000 to fund the Prop 98 campaign.

Realtors make a much larger profit when selling a home or apartment building in California, when the residents are all forced out of their housing before the premises have actually been sold to the highest bidder. Theres around 175,000 members in the California Association of Realtors, and tenant protections get in the way of how they want to conduct business, which is to make an extra profit by evicting renters from their housing before the building has been sold by the realtors.

Recently Oakland City Attorney John Russo filed suit against realtor Craig Jarvis for illegally forcing tenants from their residences in Oakland, through intimidation and harassment. Oakland renters are protected by a Just Cause eviction ordinance. With his suit, Russo intended to send a clear message to all bad realtors in California, that they must stop attacking renters with their illegal tactics of threats, intimidation and harassment meant to illegally force renters out of their housing.

In addition, the Apartment Owners Association of California, has also contributed around a million dollars to the Prop 98 campaign, in an effort to eliminate rent control, and tenant protections. As recent as April 25, the Apartment Owner's Association of California (AOA) held a seminar at Oaklandâ s Hilton Hotel, which included Eviction Workshops, to teach local landlords how to evict their tenants. This pro-eviction event inspired around 80 protesters from Just Cause Oakland to show up in front of the Hilton Hotel to protest the unseemly activities of the AOA.