Rent Control

Recently I sat in on a Senate committee hearing on rent control. As I listened to the horror stories alternating from the line of tenants and the line of landlords I soon realized that what I was hearing was a large cry for help from the landlord to save them from the dictatorship of the majority (the tenants) and at the same time a large cry for help from the tenants to save them from being thrown to the wolves (the landlords) with everything being centered on vacancy decontrol.

There should be a compromise available which would be an answer to both of these cries for help. First, to answer the landlord’s cry, allow vacancy decontrol. Second, to answer the tenant’s cry, put such conditions on such an allowance that the landlord will not dare harass or come up with one of his little schemes to force a tenant to move.

RAY ABERNATHY

Beverly Hills