"Where are our state and federal elected officials?"

"Where are our state and federal elected officials?"
When it comes to the abuses many residents of a Tatum Kaplan owned park must endure throughout each and every year this is an excellent question.  Every month seniors, minorities and those believing they had purchased affordable housing are being priced out of their homes by these two greedy SOB's.
"Where are our state and federal elected officials?"
It isn't that they don't know what is going on...they know exactly what is going on yet they still allow these so-called "sophisticated park owners" to continue to use deceptive business practices to take advantage of residents.  So why haven't our state and federal elected officials stepped in to put a stop to this?  The answer to this question may be that knowing the litigious nature of our park owners the state and federal officials do not wish to get tied up into a long drawn out and expensive lawsuit for the sake of  us.  Tatum and Kaplan know this and that is why their EVIL practices continue.

The City of El Monte appears to now be stepping up to the plate to take these on these bullies but I can't help but wonder what is being said behind closed doors.

The following is from the Pasadena Star News and yes...it is about Tatum and Kaplan's egregious rents and bullying tactics. (I have provided the highlights)

Edward Barrera: Mobile Park Owners Tell El Monte Voters: No Vote for You!

Posted:   09/15/2012 11:16:13 PM PDT

September 16, 2012 6:24 AM GMTUpdated:   09/15/2012 11:24:00 PM PDT

In El Monte, special interest groups, apparently, can threaten, bully and file legal actions, but voters can't vote. That's what the owners of a mobile home park seem to think after the city put Measure F on the November ballot.

The owners of Brookside Investments Ltd., which owns El Monte's Brookside Mobile Park Country Club, (cute marketing name), want the city to back off Measure F, which would repeal the deceptively named "Mobilehome Tenant Rent Assistance Program."

Proponents put a mobile home initiative on the ballot in 1990 to codify the so-called "rent assistance" program. While the measure gave low-income seniors a 10 percent rental discount, it also inserted a provision that has wreaked havoc on Brookside tenants. It barred the city from using taxpayer money or city resources to impose rent control laws on its mobile home parks.

I'm no fan of rent control. It's a well-meaning public policy that has generally had disastrous unintended consequences, especially stalling apartment construction by artificially depressing prices.

Having said that, I'm even less of a fan of a corporation bamboozling voters, taking advantage of seniors and minorities and then denying voters the right to rethink their earlier votes.

According to Maritza Velazquez of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, some residents at Brookside pay more than $1,000 in rent. But the average rent at El Monte's mobile home parks is $489 for a single-wide space and $557 for a double-wide space.

The normal response with high rents is to move, but renters at mobile home parks usually own the mobile home and rent the land. Moving would cost thousands of dollars and could financially ruin these tenants, even if they had the money. Another last resort is to walk away from their homes.

But the city's hands have been tied because of the earlier initiative. Even the threat of a rent control ordinance could help these tenants.

Brookside owners know this so they came out swinging wildly, threatening poor tenants for complaining with a massive rent increase if the city didn't back down. They also threatened the city of El Monte with a lawsuit, oddly claiming that the city used taxpayer resources to enact rent control, demanding $100,000, for what I'm unclear, and $2 million in damages.

But it's a bully tactic to stop the city from doing its job. The people did not authorize a special interest to usurp its power to revisit past decisions. Voters have every right to rethink, and revote, on an ordinance that was passed 22 years ago.

I'm even more outraged that there isn't more outrage over this. Where are our state and federal elected officials? Where are those outraged over the foreclosure scandals? Where are the tenant advocacy groups?

On the ballot argument for "Yes on Measure F" I count five signatures: El Monte Mayor Andre Quintero, Councilwoman Norma Macias, Police Chief Steve Schuster, Director of Emergency Resources Association Lillian Rey and Brookside Mobile Home Park resident Sandy Witt. They, and anyone who has supported repealing this travesty, should be commended. But I especially give humble thanks to courageous resident Witt, who is literally putting her home on the line.

Witt received one of the notices threatening a rent increase if the initiative was put on the ballot. As she told the Tribune, "As it stands, with this rent increase, I'm probably going to be 605 (freeway) bridge resident." 

Edward Barrera is a South Pasadena resident and a former metro editor for the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group. He now does public relations for a health care company