The Bullies Take One on the Chin.....

The following 12/4/12 article is from The San Gabriel Valley Tribune. El Monte is listening to its mobile home park residents and will now be able to look into the rent gouging that takes place in Tatum-Kaplan owned parks.  This is a victory for all residents of Tatum Kaplan owned parks thanks to Brookside Mobile Country Club residents and City Councilwoman Norma Macias.  Yes, those bullies did take one on the chin today but the fight is just beginning. 

Supporters of El Monte's mobilehome park measure prove successful in final ballot count

By Maritza Velazquez, Staff Writer

EL MONTE - A ballot initiative that had seemingly gone down in defeat after election night Nov. 6 has been redeemed, with the final tally showing that it has passed by just 71 votes, representing 50.2 percent of voter support.

After counting all of the provisional and mail-in ballots, the county on Tuesday was scheduled to certify the election with the California Secretary of State, according to the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk's office.

Supporters regard Measure F, the El Monte Fairness For Mobilehome Owners Ordinance, as a saving grace for residents of the Brookside Mobile Country Club, a local community where residents continue to pay skyrocketing rents that in some cases are triple the prices charged at other local mobile home parks.

The measure overturns the 1990 voter-approved ordinance that prohibited the city from expending any resources to look into the rents or pass rent control at its 33 mobile home parks. That ordinance also provided a 10 percent rental subsidy for qualifying tenants, a discount that will end due to the passage of Measure F.

"We still have a lot of work left to do," said City Councilwoman Norma Macias, who spearheaded the effort to pass Measure F. "There are a lot of residents out there suffering and I'm just happy that we can now finally do something to help them."

The City Council and administrators discussed the next steps at a special meeting last week. They will likely hire
an economist who will make a determination as to what may be driving rents upwards of $1,500 a month, according to city officials.


"It will be helpful for an economist to help sort out if there's some biased perspective that some of us have or if objectively there really is a problem here," Deputy City Attorney Dave Gondek said last week.

Steve Rowe of Mobile Community Management, the management company for Brookside, did not return a message seeking comment on Tuesday.

According to a fact sheet provided by the company in August, 90 percent of residents "have voluntarily elected over the years to sign long-term leases, which clearly specify rent levels and the method of calculating future annual rent increases for the term of the lease." 
Monthly rent includes water and trash pick up, according to the response.

When Measure F was originally introduced, Brookside's management company responded by threatening to raise rents unless councilmembers rescinded their decision.
For one resident, monthly payments in November increased 17 percent, from $1,256 to $1,482, according to a letter to that resident.

Brookside Investments LTD., which owns El Monte's Brookside Mobile Country Club, also filed a $100,000 claim in September, alleging that El Monte had already violated the 1990 ordinance - the provision on making inquiries on rent - by passing resolutions to place Measure F on the ballot. Brookside was seeking to recover $2 million in damages upon passage of the measure.

An attorney from Brookside Investments LTD. did not return a message seeking comment on Tuesday.

The park owners have approximately a year and a half to initiate a lawsuit, Gondek said.

"From a general standpoint, we're disappointed that (Measure F) passed and we hope it doesn't lead to rent control, which would affect every park in town and we don't think that's fair," said David Evans, senior regional representative of the Western Manufactured Housing, which represents park owners across the state.

Evans has said that the measure would likely lead to rent control, an extremely costly program to administer.

Residents have said that they are desperate for a reprieve from what they call price-gouging at the park, located at 12700 Elliot Ave.

Many of them say they're being held hostage there, because although they own their coaches, they rent the dirt beneath them. It can cost $10,000 and up to move those coaches to another park, they said.
"I don't know what the city is going to do yet, but I know it unties their hands with a lot of issues they haven't been able to dig into," resident Barbara Lawhorn said. "We're so thankful that they helped us with this measure."
maritza.velazquez@sgvn.com
626-544-0817

One Thing You Don't Have to Worry About...

If you are a resident in a Tatum-Kaplan mobile home park you a multitude of things to worry about every day.  Number one on the list is how you'll manage to pay the escalating rent this month.  Or maybe you worry about how to feed your family after you pay the rent that you never expected to be so high.  How about your health?  If you became ill and could not work, even for a short time, would our park owners show you and your family a bit of mercy and not throw you to the curb if you fall behind with the rent?  IMO probably not.

So, with no money left over at the end of the month, you don't have to worry about whether you  should open up a UBS Swiss Bank account.

"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

BULLIES! BULLIES!! BULLIES!!!

The following is an article from the San Gabriel Valley Tribune...another example of Tatum-Kaplan pushing their litigious weight around with hopes that the city will back down.

El Monte mobile home park owners file claim against rent control ballot initiative

By Maritza Velazquez, SGVN
twitter.com/MaritzaSGVN

Posted:   09/05/2012 06:39:24 PM PDT

Updated:   09/05/2012 06:41:15 PM PDT

EL MONTE - The owners of a local mobile home park this week filed a claim against the city in an effort to halt the city from enacting rent control on mobile home property owners in the future.
Brookside Investments LTD., which owns El Monte's Brookside Mobile Country Club, 12700 Elliott Ave., is demanding $100,000 and the elimination of El Monte's Measure F ballot initiative in the upcoming special municipal election.
Resident complaints of high rents at Brookside sparked the council's decision to place the measure on the ballot.
The measure would repeal the 1990 voter-approved Mobilehome Tenant Rent Assistance Program and essentially allow the city to implement rent control.
While the 1990 ordinance provided a 10 percent rental discount for low-income seniors, it also included a clause barring the city from using taxpayer money or city resources to impose rent control laws on its mobile home parks.
Brookside attorneys are arguing that El Monte illegally passed resolutions to place Measure F on the ballot. They say the city used "tax expenditures relating to salaries and other consideration paid to Councilmembers, Attorneys and others... to deprive the citizens and property owners" of the benefits of the rental assistance program, according to the claim.
If the program is repealed, it will result in the violation of property owner rights and rental subsidies for the poor and needy, according to the claim.

---

Brookside attorneys did not respond to requests for comment on Friday.
The El Monte City Council discussed the issue in closed session at Tuesday's meeting, city officials said.
"We're going to take it one step at a time," said city attorney Dave Gondek.
Filing a claim with a municipality is a requirement prior to filing a lawsuit - something that Brookside has already threatened in response to the City Council's approval of the ballot initiative.
Following the city's decision to place the initiative on the ballot, Brookside also sent notices of rent increases to residents. One tenant received a letter this month that due to the city's decision, her rent was being increased by 17 percent to $1,482 a month. It was unknown how many residents received that letter.
The resident's increased rent will be nearly triple the average rent in El Monte's mobile home communities, according to a city survey. The average rent at El Monte's mobile home parks is $489 for a single-wide space and $557 for a double-wide space, according to a city survey in which 18 of 33 total park owners in the city responded.
Residents for years have complained about skyrocketing rent at Brookside mobile home park.
Mayor Andre Quintero called the latest claims from the Brookside owners "undemocratic."
"These people are very vindictive," Quintero said.
maritza.velazquez@sgvn.com

A Recent News Article Regarding Tatum Kaplan...

Mobile home park residents seek repeal of El Monte ordinance banning rent control

By Maritza Velazquez
twitter.com/MaritzaSGVN

Posted:   08/06/2012 09:02:49 PM PDT

Sandi Witt in front of her mobile home along with other residents have complained about the conditions and high rent for years and now have a chance to reverse a city ordinance that would allow the city to be involved at the Brookside Mobile Home Park on Thursday, Aug. 2, 2012 in El Monte, Calif. (SGVN/Staff Photo by Keith Birmingham)

EL MONTE - The City Council has approved a November ballot measure that would allow El Monte to enact rent control regulations on the city's 33 mobile home parks.
That option has been off limits due to a 1990 voter-approved ordinance titled "The Mobilehome Tenant Rent Assistance Program."
While it provided a 10 percent rental discount for low-income seniors, the ordinance also included a clause essentially barring the city from imposing rent control regulations on mobile home park landowners in El Monte.
A majority vote by residents on Nov. 6 would repeal that ordinance.
The City Council could then chose to introduce an ordinance on rent control, requiring the approval of a majority of councilmembers.
The issue was sparked by residents of the Brookside Mobile Country Club, 12700 Elliot Ave., who say they're desperate for reprieve from skyrocketing rents and poor park maintenance.
Since Councilwoman Norma Macias found out about the problems at Brookside last year, she's been pushing to do something about it.
"I think if we can put this measure on the ballot and hopefully bring some justice to these people, we can certainly try to help them," Macias said.
Although a rent control ordinance could be in the future for El Monte's mobile home parks, some opponents say it's not the best way to go about keeping prices fair.
Generally, these ordinances - like one La Verne has in place - limit the amount
that property owners can hike rents. In many cases, that limit is set by the Consumer Price Index. "Rent control is incredibly bad policy and that's why years have gone by and no cities in California have passed it," said David Evans, senior regional representative of the Western Manufactured Housing Communities Association.
It pits residents against owners and unfairly favors residents, Evans said. The ordinances also pose high administrative costs for cities to administer, he said.
Rent control was popular in the 1970s and 80s, but many cities have done away with such policies, Evans said.
Approximately 21 percent of California's cities still have them in place, he said.
Several Brookside residents came before the City Council last week, painting a daunting picture of tenants caught in a precarious situation in which their monthly payments rise every year.
While some residents at Brookside pay more than $1,000, the average rent at El Monte's mobile home parks is $489 for a single-wide space and $557 for a double-wide space, according to a city survey in which 18 of 33 total park owners in the city responded.
Brookside did not respond to that survey, city officials said.
Representatives of Brookside's management company, Mobile Community Management did not respond directly to inquiries regarding resident complaints, instead providing a fact sheet.
According to that fact sheet, 90 percent of residents "have voluntarily elected over the years to sign long-term leases, which clearly specify rent levels and the method of calculating future annual rent increases for the term of the lease."
Monthly rent includes water and trash pick up, according to the response.
The management company is owned by Los Angeles-based Tatum-Kaplan Financial Group, which was involved in the passage of the 1990 ballot initiative, which also abolished a rent control ordinance that had been enacted in El Monte two years earlier, according to city officials.
While residents at mobile home parks own their coach, they lease the land that it sits on.
Among those Brookside residents is Sandi Witt, a 63-year-old woman who moved with her mother to the mobile home park four decades ago and has seen her monthly rent far exceed her income since the mid-1980s.
For example, in 2007 she paid around $782 a month for rent, according to a bill.
Currently, she pays more than $1,100 to rent her space while she only earns $875, Witt said.
If it wasn't for local food banks, she wouldn't eat, Witt said.
And those rent payments are going to rise again.
According to a notice Witt received last month, beginning in November her payments will be $1,191.23.
However, she can qualify for an "adjusted monthly rate" of $1,135.04 if she agrees to settle a lawsuit she and other residents have filed against Brookside's owners, according to the document.
She's not settling, Witt said.
"As it stands, with this rent increase, I'm probably going to be a 605 (freeway) bridge resident," she said.
Witt is part of a 2009 lawsuit filed by one-third of Brookside residents claiming the park's owners have failed to maintain the park, she said. Attorneys representing the group did not return phone calls seeking comment.
"The Park denies, and is vigorously defending against the allegations contained in the lawsuit," Brookside representatives said in its fact sheet.
More than half of the plantiffs in the lawsuit have moved or settled their claims with Brookside, according to the company.
Witt pointed to the collapsing embankment behind her trailer and said it's one more indication that the residents are not being taken care of despite the exorbitant rent they pay.
Another man who wished to remain anonymous pointed out large cracks in the pavement that had unsuccessfully been covered in slurry seal.
However, two workers nearby cleaned one of many empty lots in the park. And at the clubhouse, one woman mopped near the front door, which faced a well-manicured grassy area featuring a playground slide.
According to online advertisements, the rent at some mobile home parks in areas like Pomona, Palmdale and Oakland run about $500. One in Huntington Beach is advertised at $1,495. Another in Brea shows monthly rent at $975.
Although Brookside tenants said they'd like to move out, they can't afford it.
It can cost thousands to move a trailer from one lot to another.
"It would take all my money to move," one resident said. "So you just have to walk away."
The owners of Brookside - Tatum-Kaplan and their management company Mobile Community Management - have faced multiple lawsuits in Orange and San Bernardino counties from mobile home park residents complaining of much of the same issues alleged at Brookside.
Jeffrey Kaplan, a lawyer who heavily invested in the mobile-home business in the 1980s, owns more than a dozen mobile-home parks in Southern California, according to archives from the California Secretary of State's office.
In 1996, Kaplan led an unsuccessful state initiative similar to El Monte's 1990 ordinance that would have done away with rent controls for California's mobile home parks.
"It's just been very frustrating for me to not have been able to really do really for these residents," Macias said.
maritza.velazquez@sgvn.com
626-962-8811, ext. 2236



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