Asa Takes On Childcare At The Potluck
Next potluck Wednesday May 8, please RSVP for childcare: info (at) BerkeleyTenants.org.
Tag: tenants union
Preserving Rent-Controlled Units: Acheson Commons Might become Dangerous Precedent
City Council has sent back the Acheson Commons plan to the Zoning Adjustments Board. The 200+ unit development at Shattuck and University has united labor, environmentalists and affordable housing advocates, according to the article below.
One of the big problems with the current plan is that 8 rent controlled units will be eliminated, but NOT REPLACED with below-market rentals — I say this means the Zoning Board isn’t following the current Demo Ordinance, but City staff are saying all EMPTY UNITS ARE NOT RENT CONTROLLED and not protected from destruction.
*BMC23.080 Board shall approve a Use Permit to eliminate a controlled rental unit only when it finds that: *
*2. The replacement dwelling unit shall be available for occupancy to Households for Lower Income or Very Low Income Household*
BTU might be asking you to comment when this gets back to Zoning — but then again, it looks the developer is once again offering the rent controlled houses for sale, which would comply with a different part of the Demo Ordinance:
http://www.contracostatimes.com/contra-costa-times/ci_22903585/eye-east-bay-richmond-debuts-environmental-disasters-tour
More on the Council decision to remand:
http://www.berkeleyside.com/2013/03/27/acheson-commons-sent-back-to-berkeley-zoning-board/
Berkeley Tenants Union April Potluck — This Wednesday!
You are invited to the Berkeley Tenants Union April Potluck
Come break bread with tenants, smart landlords, activists, and everyone who wants to keep rent control strong and working in Berkeley.
When: April 10, 6:30-8:30 pm
Where: Grassroots House, 2022 Blake, Berkeley between Milvia and Shattuck
RSVP: info (at) berkeleytenants.org (Children are welcome. Please include in RSVP. There will be childcare.)
There will be a 15-minute orientation for folks who want to table at the Saturday Downtown Farmer’s Market.
What’s going on in Alameda?
Alameda has no rent control. In the letter we have linked to below, their “Rent Review Board” warns landlords that increasing rent more than 10% a year could result in a public push for rent control, “which is bad for landlords and tenants alike.” OH MY!
BTU wants to remind you that we have a good system here in Berkeley, but we can’t take it for granted, and must stand together to keep what we have! One reason we have stronger tenant protections than San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose or Alameda is because our Rent Board is elected. But we need more than just a handful of Commissioners looking out for us – we need you! Come to the April 10th potluck, or drop by our table at the Saturday Farmers Market on April 13 and 27 to learn more about how just a few hours of your time each month could make a big change in Berkeley.
http://alamedasun.com/editorial/11642-open-letter-from-rent-review-board
http://thealamedan.org/news/council-members-rising-rents-could-prompt-controls
Tenants Union Potluck — 2nd Wednesday of Every Month
You are invited to the Berkeley Tenants Union April Potluck
Come break bread with tenants, smart landlords, activists, and everyone who wants to keep rent control strong and working in Berkeley.
When: April 10, 6:30-8:30 pm
Where: Grassroots House, 2022 Blake, Berkeley between Milvia and Shattuck
RSVP: info (at) berkeleytenants.org (Children are welcome. Please include in RSVP. There will be childcare.)
There will be a 15-minute orientation for folks who want to table at the Saturday Downtown Farmer’s Market.
Berkeley Tenants Union Spring Campaign: Security Deposits
Senator Mark Leno (D – San Francisco) has announced the introduction of SB 603, a bill to promote fair treatment of tenant security deposits. SB 603 would require deposit funds to be held in separate accounts — and it will require interest payments to tenants on any funds held — another rule tenants in Berkeley are lucky to have already.
But many tenants know that having a law and getting access to interest or even return of a security deposit are two different things. So Leno’s bill calls for penalties if deposit funds are improperly withheld. SB 603 is co-sponsored by Tenants Together — the statewide organization of which BTU is a proud member — as well as the Western Center on Law and Poverty and California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation.
Watch this space for more on what you can do to help make this bill into law! Right now, you can show your support here:
http://www.itsyourdeposit.org/take-action/
Berkeley Tenants Union Spring Campaign: Seismic Safety
On May 20, several BTU members joined with UC Berkeley students for Housing Advisory Commissioner Igor Tregub’s Third Annual Day of Seismic Safety. We visited a number of buildings on the City’s “soft story” list — mostly apartments built over garages – which engineers identified as expected to pancake in an earthquake, leaving no time for residents to escape. Although the Planning Dept. tracks compliance with part of the 2006 law known as “Soft Story Part One,” city staff has said they cannot afford to check to make sure landlords are following another part of the law — the part where they tell tenants the building they are living in could kill them!
We visited many buildings that have posted the required signage since the first and second Days of Seismic Safety, but some which still have not posted the warning signs.
We spoke to a number of tenants who want to join with BTU in asking that the city actually enforce the law and, more importantly, make “Soft Story Part Two” — in which the buildings actually get retrofit!
Most importantly, as the news story linked below tells us, landlords want tenants to pay for the retrofit and blame rent control for not repairing their unsafe buildings. Please JOIN US to resist unwarranted rent increases!
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/local/east_bay&id=9035388
UC Berkeley Tenants Rights Week
Annual student outreach is March 18-22. Look for a special Housing Issue of the Daily Californian —- and watch this space for more news!
BerkeleyTenants Union Spring Campaign: Seismic Safety
BTU will join in the third annual Day of Seismic Safety March 20
Beginning at 5 PM on the steps at UC’s Sproul Plaza, Berkeley activists will join UC students in visiting tenants who live in units on the city’s list of unsafe “soft story” buildings. BTU will join with others in pushing the city to require these buildings be retrofit!
Hundreds of Berkeley properties meet the city’s soft-story definition— a wood-frame structure with five or more units and a ground level containing large openings like storefronts, garages or tuck-under parking. Jennifer Strauss, external relations officer at the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, compared soft-story buildings to houses on stilts. “The large open spaces on the ground floor that are unreinforced cannot withstand lateral forces,” Strauss said. “When the ground shakes back and forth, they end up collapsing.”
Read more here — and comment on the article if you can! http://www.dailycal.org/2013/03/14/seismic-safety-worries-city/
Daily Californian Housing Issue Out Now
Daily Californian on vacancy decontrol and other tenant issues. BTU supporters should go online and post comments to respond to landlord’s claims of “meager earnings.” Rents in the building discussed – which has over 75 units — total over $50,000 a month per the Rent Stabilization Board rent tracking website (which only shows rents for about 50 units, because the other units are masked from public view for various reasons — so the rents are more likely $75,000 a month).