Mass Evictions on Modoc Road

Are you kidding me? An owner can't evict his/her tenants within 30 days. So much for the term "owner." Seems like the tenants have more rights than the owner.

Just a quick question here (call it a Latino's curiosity): Since PUEBLO is getting involved, is the "race/ethnicity card" being pulled out of the sleeve?
In Isla Vista we had the same kind of situation and the race issue was used by tenat advocates. Seems like the only color the owners of Conquest Housing were interested in was green.
Local "advocates" tried to say Conquest's move was racially motivated, but if that is the case, then how come there are Black, Latino, Asian & "other" tenants living there now?
I'm just curious :) henry

If the tenant has been there for more than a year, the owner has to give 60 days.

I know I will be accused of being petty by even mentioning this, but throughout the film that I watched from beginning to end, including the invocation in Spanish, all I kept hearing about was "The children". OK, we know that kids are defenseless, but so are adults--even working able-bodied men and women--when they are facing the possibility of being homeless.

This is not just an issue of "the children", or as politicians love to say "families"; this is an issue affecting every single person in that apartment complex and an issue that single people who arent' married/have kids worry about.

Clearly, the underlying issue here is that Santa Barbara county and the Californian coast are no longer affordable for most people and the result is people have to constantly worry about whether or not they will have shelter over their heads. This is not a race issue, its one that can hit anybody. In short, we live in an area where people with college degrees abound but somehow we can't figure out a way to effect a system where this sort of thing doesn't happen.

Regardless of race, marital status, whether or not you have kids, age, or if you are able to work or are disabled, being homeless is a nightmare, and this is just another example of life in Santa Barbara.

Bill, as far as "affordable housing" goes, does it even exist in our lovely city? So many people need a home, yet do these developers that want to develop Naples & Ellwood bluffs even think to make affordable housing?
You're 1,000% correct, it ain't about race or ethnicity, it's clearly about people. Unfortunately, there are those willing to turn it into a race/ethnicity issue for reasons beyond my understanding :) henry

Unfortunately, there are those willing to turn it into a race/ethnicity issue for reasons beyond my understanding :) henry

Yes indeed. Meanwhile Barney endlessly is writing about laws of the past that forbade interracial marriage while he won't touch the root of this issue. Such is the way local journalism deals with the matters of the day.

Amazing that tenants and these parasitic so-called "advocacy groups" are so clueless that they are STILL buying this garbage that these housing issues are about race and "The Children".

What these folks all fail to realize is that they are being divided and conquered by not only the landlords in question, but the "advocacy groups" as well.

Wake up!

Let's review: is the housing/economic situation better today VS 10 or 20 years ago? We have more "Advocates" afoot, feeding like leeches off of increasisngly incendiary race issues, convincing some of us that we are more "entitled" than others, true, that IS different...but what has IMPROVED?

Well, let's see..we have lots more thought policing going on, PC is running rampant, we have "sensitivity classes" and "tenant's rights" orgs and sexual harrassment rules on the job, but no....it's not better.

Not really.

Landlords and employers have just gotten better at hiding their biases, and better at implementing them, and the biggest bias is that waged against people without lots of spare money lying around.

It's OK to be Mexican, female, disabled or old...IF you are ALSO "green" with plenty of money.

But if not...well, we know the answer to that now, don't we?

What needs to happen, if these "advocates" actually care, is to A: stop being victocrats and B: stop listening to divide and conquer philosophy.

Don't play the "Latinos and people with kids are better and more entitled to respect than black or white people and those without kids" card, and don't let anyone deal you that hand.

Not only is it offensive, it directly undermines any hope of ever changing the hard reality that we have a serious housing crisis afoot.

EVERYBODY deserves safe, clean, SECURE, and affordable shelter. Everybody. Not just rich people, or families, or brown people or white people...but EVERYONE.

Equally.

Stand for no less than the entire pie. Stop settling for pieces. It's no longer good enough.

Wow. I know it's not just about the kids, but it's enlightening to watch the video and learn that there are 90 elementary aged children in those 37 units, plus 20 junior high students and 25 senior high students. Since all the tenants want is an extension, I sincerely hope the landlords will be gracious about it and give them an extra month to get through the holidays.

I visited that complex when I was apartment hunting. What a %$#@ dump. If they're renovating it, that's good, but why did they let it get so run down to begin with, and are they planning to jack the rent when they're through? I'm sick of scumbag landlords pretending that they can't offer affordable housing without making their tenants live like roaches in a trash can. Hillshore Gardens, any of Dario Pini's complexes, the broken-windowed triplex across the street from me....the list is endless. Who at the city can we complain to about these code enforcement nightmares?

135 school-aged children in 37 units. That's an average of 3.65 El-Hi students per unit and that doesn't count kids under 5 years old. I guess it is about kids.

But if it's the same complex I looked at 20 years ago, it really does need extensive rehabilitation.

Where the hell is AShaw? Surely we need his $.02 here.

Reports from sources present at the news announcement early this evening (13 Nov.) told me there and then that the intent of the apartment building management-ownership is to conduct major building renovation, and then rent out the apartments for significantly higher rental rates.

Considering that the building management already does extensive housing availability advertising to SBCC, sources confirm, one could surmise that the intent here is to convert this apartment building from a population of low-wage, mostly immigrant, workers to college students.

Again another waste of time reading anything Pritchett has to say.

"Where the hell is AShaw? Surely we need his $.02 here."
-tegrat-

For that matter, where's Binky?...when Binky and AShaw get into it, things get interesting.

"Considering that the building management already does extensive housing availability advertising to SBCC, sources confirm, one could surmise that the intent here is to convert this apartment building from a population of low-wage, mostly immigrant, workers to college students."

As I recall, wasn't that the same basic thing they pulled with the old Carillo hotel? In that case, older people on fixed incomes lived there and they tossed them out in order to make way for a more high-end clientele.

Treedom, I think code enforcement/compliance is the last thing on the city's mind. Getting their tax $$$ is job 1.
If they actually cared something would've been done long ago. It truly is a shame that people are forced to live in dumps just because they don't have $$$ coming out of their ears.
In Isla Vista we have a similar situation, but in this case it is kids w/ $$$ coming out of their parent's ears treating the place like a Watts, East L.A. or Oakland ghetto on their own. Of course, the county gets their tax revenue so all is forgiven & forgotten.
These are hard working families & regardless of race, ethnicity or whatever, shouldn't have to live like that.
The big question here is this: Once it's all said & done, where are they going to go? :) henry

The new owners of this property did a fabulous job cleaning up a big apartment building below City College. It definitely was a lift for the neighborhood.

The same people will be doing the same for the Hillshore Gardens. The neighborhood there needs a lift and this will help.

The timing, however, is poor. It is going to be difficult for 37+ families to simultaneously find new housing.

Opinionator, is the rent rate for the apartments below SBCC the same as before "cleaning up" that same apartment building?? Few cleaning actions are altruistic.

Here are new news articles, published 18Nov.2008:
http://www.dailynexus.com/article.php?a=...
http://www.thedailysound.com/111808Evict...