"But I CAN'T Pay the Rent!" L.A.'s Nuevo Simon Legree
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Looks like property rights is L.A.'s issue of the week.
Consider this: Rocky Delgadillo's office sued a Van Nuys landlord company for forcing people out of rent-controlled apartments in upcoming neighborhoods so it could upgrade and rent the units at a higher "market rate."
On the one hand, rent control was established to prevent this very thing: kicking people out of their homes to make a profit. Condo conversions and runaway gentrification in L.A. neighborhoods ranging from Venice to downtown are forcing poorer families to move away from friends, family and businesses they've had for decades, and rapidly eroding the foothold in the city that many Angelenos have fought to maintain ...
On the other hand, property owners have a right to reduce costs and benefit from market changes just as any other business might.
Point being, I guess, that (most) other businesses don't usually hinge their profit margins so heavily on people's backs - or harrass families out of their homes to make a buck.
If anyone can honestly defend what these guys are alleged to be doing - albeit in the name of keeping their businesses profitable - I'd be pretty surprised.
Posted by: Mack_Reed on Thursday, June 15, 2006 - 10:02 AM
