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1949 DEC 15 CC MIN0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 DAVID ETTLESON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - MUTUAL 7789 SPECIAL RENT DECONTROL HEARING conducted by THE CITY COUNCIL of the CITY OF EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA 7 :45 o'clock p. m. Thursday, December 15th 19+9 in the Auditorium of the E1 Segundo Elementary School 615 Richmond Street E1 Segundo, California. Reported by: David Ettleson --- o0o - -- e 11 1 2 3 4 6 6 7 s 9 10 11 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 G DAVID ETTLESON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - MUTUAL 7789 ©I The special rent decontrol hearing conducted by the City Council of the City of El Segundo, California, convened at the hour of 7:45 o'clock p. m., on Thursday, the 15th day of December, 1949, in the auditorium of the E1 Segundo Elementary School, located at 615 Richmond Street, in the City of El Segundo, County of Los Angeles, State of California, Mayor William R. Selby, presiding. MAYOR SELBY: Will the meeting please come to orderl The Clerk will call the roll. . Roll call by the City Clerk, the following city officials being present: WILLIAM R. SELBY, Mayor COUNCILMAN WILBURN E. BAKER COUNCILMAN DAVE W. PETERSON COUNCILMAN WALTER W. SWANSON COUNCILMAN L. R. THOMPSON VICTOR D. MC CARTRY, City Clerk MRS. NEVA M. ELSEY, Deputy City Clerk CLYDE WOODWORTH, City Attorney. MAYOR SELBY: It appearing that a quorum of the City Council is present, the meeting will proceed. Ladies and Gentlemen: The City Council of the City of El Segundo has called this meeting at this place at this time for the purpose of conducting a public hearing with reference to the adoption by the City Council of the �i f . f f 1C 11 12 1a 14 16 16 17 18 f 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 DAVID ETTLESON, OFFICIAL COURT REPORTER - MUTUAL 7789 37 City of E1 Segundo, California, of a resolution declaring that said city should be decontroled from the authority of the Federal Housing Expediter, under authority granted bye the Federal Housing and Rent Act of 1949. This hearing was set by the City Council responsive to the petition and request of Norma T. Bakke and some 94 others filed with the City Council at its regular meeting of November 23rd, 1949, requesting the City Council to hold such a hearing with a view to deconimling rents in the City of E1 Segundo. Before proceeding further, I shall ask the City Clerk whether or not notice of this public hearing has been duly given and published in accordance with law and the order of the City Council. CITY CLERK MC CARTHY: It has, Mr. Mayor. MAYOR SELBY: The affidavit of publication of notice will be received and made a part of the records of this hearing. I shall further ask the City Clerk if notice of this hearing was mailed to neighboring cities, to the Board of Supervisors of Los Angeles County and to the Regional Housing Expediter as instructed by the City Council. CITY CLERK MC CARTHY: Yes, Mr. Mayor, on December 1st, 1949, full, true and correct copies were mailed to the Honorable Board of Supervisors of the County of Los Angeles, the Regional Housing Expediter and the t V 11 li _1a 14 16 16 17 18 1s 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 DAVID ETTLESON, OFFICIAL COUar REPORTER _ MII- - -7-7RC 47 1 Honorable City Councils of Culver City, Hawthorne, z Redondo Beach, Palos Verdes, Gardena, Los Angeles and 3 Santa Monica. I MAYOR SELBY: The affidavit of mailing of notice will be received and also made a part of the records of this hearing. Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, it appearing that this hearing has been duly and regularly called and that due and proper notice of the same has been given, we will proceed to conduct the hearing on the petition to decontrol rents in the City of E1 Segundo. After this hearing the City Council will hear any and all persons who may desire to be heard, or to present evidence for or against the petition pursuant to which this hearing is being held, or for or against the decontrol of rents in the City of E1 Segundo, California. In order to conduct the hearing in an orderly manner the Council would like to hear first from those who are in favor of the petition and in favor of the decontrol of rents in this city; and after they have finished, the Council would like then to hear from those who oppose the petition and who are opposed to the decontrol of rents in this city. rebuttal. The Council will naturally allow time for You may address the Council either in person j F 1 L E 1, 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 DAVID ETTLESnN nom...... 51 1 or through your representatives, as you may desire. 2 In view of the nature of this proceeding, all 3 persons offering testimony will be duly sworn before 4 testifying. 6 In order to expedite the proceeding, we will 6 ask all those present who expect to give or offer testimony 7 to please rise at this time and be sworn by the City Clerk. 3 Any persons who are not present, but who appear later, may be sworn separately. Mr. Clerk, will you administer the oath, please? Whereupon, a number of individuals were duly sworn by the City Clerk . . . MAYOR SKZY: Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, in addressing the Council you will please first clearly state your name and address for the purposes of the record which is being taken by the Court Reporter, who is here with us this evening, and you will next please state, before testifying, whether you have been sworn. I would ask that you come forward to the microphone here to give such testimony as you may have so that we may hear it clearly. We have one here in front. We will now hear from the petitioners and all those in favor of decontroling rents in this city. Is there anybody who cares to come forward to speak In favor of decontrol of rents? f r, 11 17 h la 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 DAVID ETTLESON. OFFICIAL CMIJC nee.,. _ un .. J 1 MR. CLIFFORD K. RIDDLE: I reside at 815 Main 2 Street in the City of E1 Segundo. 3 I am more or less a spokesman for a group of 4 property owners here in the City of Los Angeles and we have gotten together and made a survey, the best we could in the time given, and to the best of our knowledge we have r covered all the town. We have done it practically on a house -to -house basis and some of the more sparsely settled sections of the city we haven't been able to get every house, but I think it is very representative of the whole town of El Segundo. Of course, we have been under rent control for about seven years now and naturally all the landlords are pretty bitter about it. We feel that it is a violation of our constitutional rights and we think that the Congress when they passed the 19+9 Rent Control Bill had in mind that when it was possible to show that there were suffi- cient vacancies in the rental market, that rent controls were no longer needed in any specific area. We have made this survey and we find that there is approximately a 20 per cent rental vacancy factor in the total rental units in the City of El Segundo. I don't know whom I am to present this to, but I have it here. It isn't typewritten out but it is made up and listed by streets, Ve have tried where we could to get the amount of rent that is being paid on places that are rented, the J W1 0 V 1] 12 13 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 DAVID ETTLESON. OFFICIAL COU" P­ 07r, _ M11--, ­. 11 1 amount of rent that is asked on places that are vacant, and 2 where possible we have tried to get the sale price of new a houses that are for sale. And in our efforts here we find I that there are 337 rental units in the City of E1 Segundo. Of 337 units, 47 of them are vacant. There are also 32 rental units under construction. Perhaps I should correct that. That may not be 32 rental units but 32 housing units 1 under construction. Possibly some of those are for sale. That figures out 23.8 per cent vacancy factor. Disregard- ing those that are under construction, we still have a 14 per cent vacancy factor on rental units. I believe it was the intention that any time there was a vacancy factor of two and five - tenths per cent, it was no longer necessary that rent controls be in effect. Therefore, I would like to submit this to the City Council for their consideration. (Handing a sheaf of documents to the City Clerk.) MAYOR SELBY: May I ask a question? In considering rental units, just what did you consider rental units? Do you mean an apartment house or do you mean a hotel room? MR. RIDDLE: They are listed by room, whether they are a court, apartment or house, and in cases where there were trailers for rent, they are listed that way too. That covers, as far as I know, everything. MAYOR SELBY: Thank you. This petition will 3 7 11 1] 1� 13 14 16 16 17 18 1s 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 DAVID ETTLFSAN n... ... 1 be received and marked as Petitionerts Exhibit No. 1. 2 . . . Whereupon, the sheaf of documents above 3 referred to were marked as Petitioner's Exhibit No. 1 and, a received in evidence . . . 5 MAYOR SELBY: Is there anybody else who cares to speak in favor of rent decontrol? MR. W. F. LEHIGH: My property is at 302 - 308 Mariposa Street, E1 Segundo. ' MAYOR SELBY: I gather that you concur with the other gentleman, that you think he has covered the subject very well? MR. LEHIGH: He has said just what I would like to say, yes. MAYOR SELBY: Anybody else who wishes to speak in favor of rent decontrol? MR. H. E. DIETRICH: I live at 315 East Maple Street. I would like to go on record as saying the same as Mr. Riddle and Mr. Lehigh. I agree with them. Prior to this meeting my reason for selling several pieces of property was because of the raise in taxes and I, of course, was in the war and most of my property was frozen. Consequently, the raise in takes and the upkeep and repairs, et cetera, because of that I decided the best thing for me to do was to sell the property. Nov I have built some new units. I also now i r li 1: 1: li 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 DAVID ETTLESON. orriaut r-n-, ewe.. -- 1 have two vacancies which I have had for about a month. Of 2 course, on those new units I had the privilege of putting 3 a price on them. Mr. Lehigh, of course, has had his 4 property tied up for a number of years. But I have had 6 these two vacancies for about one month, and I would like s to go down on record very much in favor of this decontrol 7 because I believe this decontrol would adjust itself because those who have the new properties, where their ► prices are out of reason, I believe that they won't be able to keep a. tenant, and consequently they will keep moving unless they lower the rents. While those like Mr. Lehigh, who have been held down for a number of years, would be able to bring their rents up to a reasonable amount. And if Mr. Lehigh, for example, brought hjs rents beyond a reasonable amount, of course his tenants would be on the move. I would like to go on record very much in, favor of decontrol. MAYOR SELBY: Thank you very much, Mr. Dietrich Is there anybody else who wishes to speak in favor of decontrol? MR. A. BEALL: I reside at 645 Hillcrest, Fl Segundo. I would like to go on record as favoring decontrol of rents in El Segundo. And I think that this meeting right here tonight is a good example of why 11 li 1� lc 14 16 16 17 18 1s 20 21 22 23 24- 26 26 DAVID ETTLESON. OFFICIAL r-nl- nro. et.e _ - a 1 decontrol should go. There obviously is no interest shown 2 in either control or decontrol in E1 Segundo. You have a 3 very poor representation of landlords or tenants tonight 4 and I would imagine you would have a better representation 5 of the people who own rental property in E1 Segundo than s you do of people who rent in El Segundo. And having rental property in El Segundo and having tried to get that rent raised through the OPA, I would like to say that it is I exceedingly hard to do. They are not even civil, if I might use that word, at times, because they say, "Well, you should take a day off occasionally and come and see us because writing letters will do no good." Those are the words that were given to me, gentlemen, by one of the women in OPA because I had writte a letter to them, but I got no satisfaction at all. That goes back to 1946, three years ago, and although this decontrol has been dragging on for some time, it wms supposed to be purely a war measure and the war, I believe, ended in 145. I think it would be better if the landlords and the tenants could get together and make an agreement between themselves as to what they would pay and everybody would be happier about it. And I say, let's turn the property back to the people who own then and let them make their own agreement with the people living in them. MAYOR SKSY: Thank you very much. 1 1 V E 1� if 1s 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 DAVID ETTLESON. OFFICIAL Cooar Prong— _ M11-- 1 Is there anybody else who cares to say or 2 testify on behalf of decontrol of rents? (Pause). If 3 there is not, we will then ask those who wish to testify, 4 against rent decontrol to come forward. Is there anybody 5 in the audience who cares to do that? (Pause). 6 I repeat, we are waiting to hear from those 7 who wish to testify against decontrol of rents. (Pause). B Apparently there is nobody in the audience who cares to do SO* Is there anybody in the audience who cares to address the Council on the same subject? In other words, this is another opportunity for those who are in favor of decontrol. This will be your last opportunity. (Pause). If no one else desires to address the Council further, I hereby declare the hearing closed. I am hereby submitting the following resolution for the pleasure of the Board. I am going to ask the City Clerk if he will read that, please. CITY CLERK MC CARTHY: "RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of E1 Segundo, California, does hereby take the question of the decontrol of rents in the City of E1 Segundo under advisement until its neat regular meeting to be held in the Council Chamber in the City Hall of this city, in said city, at the hour of seven o'clock P. m., Vednesday, the 21st day of December, 1949." - COUNCILMAN PETERSON: Mr. Chairman, I move you No 1 1: 1; ll is if 16 17 13 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 DAVID ETTLESON. ovricuL r-- owe. -- 12 1 1 the adoption of that resolution. 2 . . . The motion was regularly seconded . 3 MAYOR SEMY: The Clerk will call the roll., 4 . . . Roll call vote by the City Clerk . . . 6 MAYOR SMZY: I would like to declare the 6 resolution as carried. 7 Folks, may I say this: The Council could not s act here tonight if they wanted to because we can only take official action in our City Hall. So whether we were > in favor or against decontrol tonight, I am sure we wouldn't be able to act anyway upon it until the next regular meeting of the City Council, I believe at this time a motion to adjourn is in order. .Whereupon, it was regularly moved, seconded and carried that the hearing be adjourned . . . The hearing adjourned at the hour of 8 :05 otclock p. m. . . . - -- 000 - -- r rj 4 V 1] 12 U 14 16 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 26 26 1 z 3 t i1■ DAVID ETTLESON, OFFICIAL COURT RFPOPTea . M11—Ai 77ao 1 I STATE OF CALIFORNIA, ) ) ss. COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES ) I, DAVID ETTLESON, an Official Reporter of the Superior Court of the State of California, in and for the County of Los Angeles, hereby certify the foregoing 12 page to be a full, true and correct transcript of the testimony taken and proceedings had in the Special Rent Decontrol Hearing conducted by the City Council of the City of El Segundo, California, on Thursday, the 15th day of December, 1949, at the hour of 7 :45 o'clock P.M., in the auditorium of the E1 Segundo Elementary School, 615 Richmond Street, in the City of El Segundo, County of Los Angeles, State of California, L_ DATED this 04day of ��4'�,,�.1� �� , 1949, Of?iCi&l Reporter I T -63 19NUTES OF PUBLIC HEARING CONDUCTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF EL SEGUNDO, CALIFORNIA, IN THE AUDITORIUM OF RICHMOND STREET ELEMENTARY SCHOOL OF SAID CITY, ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1949 - 7:30 P. M. The City Council of the City of El Segundo, California, pursuant to resolution fixing the time and place for the public hearing to be held with reference to the decontrol of rents within said city, adopted at its regular meeting of November 24th, 1949, and pursuant to the order of adjournment of the regular meeting of the City Council held December 14th, 1949, duly convened in the Auditorium of the Richmond Street Elementary School, located 615 Richmond Street, in the City of El Segundo, on Thursday, the 15th day of December, 1949, beginning at the hour of 7:30 otclock P. M. of said day. The Mayor called the meeting to order and directed the City Clerk to'call the roll, which resulted as follows: Councilmen Present: Baker, Peterson, Swanson, Thompson and ?Mayor Selby. Councilmen Absent: None. Thereupon proceedings were had, testimony, both oral and documentary, was received and action taken, all as set forth in the official transcript of the proceedings of said hearing, reported and transcribed by David Ettleson, official court reporter of the Superior Court of the State of California, in and for the County of Los Angeles, which follows immediately in these minutes, to -wit: T -64 r T -65 In accordance with the resolution last hereinabove quoted in the transcript of the proceedings of the decontrol hearing, the City Council took the matter of the decontrol of rents within the City of El Segundo under advisement until its next regular meeting to be held on the 21st day of December, 1949, and proceeded to adjourn this present meeting on motion of Councilman Peterson, seconded by Councilman Baker, and unanimously carried.