From the Contra Costa Times:
Housing crisis: Emeryville planning official uses huge rent increase to boot city's poet laureate
Sarah Kobrinsky, Emeryville's poet laureate, stands in front of the home on Wednesday, April 15, 2015, that she and her husband and their 4-year-old son were forced out of by a $500 a month rent increase in Emeryville, Calif. Her landlord is the vice chair of the city's planning commission and is listed as a member of the city's Housing Advisory and Appeals Board. Kobrinsky moved to Point Richmond, but will continue writing poems for Emeryville through the end of the year. (Doug Oakley/Bay Area News Group) ( Doug Oakley )
EMERYVILLE -- If the story of rising rents and the exodus of artists from Bay Area communities could be told in verse, Emeryville's poet laureate has one for you.
we are stronger still --
When we say we are sorry,
we honestly mean it.
As an artist, Kobrinsky said she understands the Bay Area rental market benefits some at the expense of others. But she expected more from her landlord Kairee Tann, a city official who votes on development proposals that directly affect the housing market including single family homes and apartment buildings.
Tann also is on the city's Housing Advisory and Appeals Board, which hears complaints about potential violations of the housing code.
Kobrinsky's rent in Emeryville went from $1,300 to $1,800 a month for a 1 ½-bedroom unit. Even through she lived on the same lot as her landlord in a separate unit, she said when she was notified of the increase there was no conversation, just a certified letter.
No wonder Ms. Tann was appointed to the planning commission and housing committee.....We all wondered where she came from.
ReplyDeletepublic faces smile
ReplyDeletecommunity altruism
greed without spotlight
Mao was right....EXECUTE THE LANDLORDS...[Let the gods sort the just ones out]
ReplyDeleteRichard Ambro
how sadly ironic that there is NO RENT CONTROL here in this bastion of liberalism! while the newly arriving tecfhies can afford whatever they are charged, long time residents and seniors in older buildings can not. who in public office is standing up for us?
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