HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-05-2015 PH1 SmallCOUNCIL MEETING:_ 05_"_05 15
ITEM NO.: el:i1
Lomeli, Monique
Subject: FW: Proposed Rental Housing Inspection Program
From: Bob Small [smallbobll @gmail.com]
R ECEI' \1E-b
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2015 12:35 PM MAY 0 5 2015
To: Marx, Jan
Subject: Proposed Rental Housing Inspection Program SLO CITY CLERK
Dear Mayor Marx,
As a home owner in San Luis Obispo I am quite concerned over several provisions contained in the proposed
Rental Housing Inspection Program, which you will consider at tonight's City Council meeting. We have owned
the home for more than ten years, buying near the pre- Recession peak of the market and weathering the
subsequent slump. My wife and I intend to retire to the home within the next couple years.
My daughter, a graduate of Cal Poly and an extremely involved, self - employed business person in SLO,
currently inhabits our house, and we rent out a portion to Cal Poly and Cuesta students; so we already have
onsite management, eyes and ears on the ground, so to speak, to monitor activity in our home and in the
neighborhood. My son, also a graduate of Cal Poly, inhabited our home during his college years before my
daughter.
All parents of our student tenants and prospective tenants and their parents marvel at the condition of our
house, which I maintain with, perhaps, excessive vigilance. My mantra to all student tenants and parents is, "If
something doesn't seem to work right, then something may be wrong, so give me a call." Safety and an
appropriate ambiance for the student tenants is of utmost importance to me.
The overreach of this proposed ordinance seems like an attempt to kill a fly with a howitzer. Any time a
government agency holds the hammer of "additional fees and penalties" over its citizens for perceived non-
compliance with a regulation, it smells of another way to generate additional revenue for the general fund. This
proposed ordinance is rife with such language.
While I understand the frustration of some SLO residents about the condition of homes in their neighborhoods
and activities therein, the City already has in place mechanisms to deal with many of these issues. A new cadre
of "City Inspectors" with boots on the streets surveying our neighborhoods is a vision that indicates government
knows better than its citizens how to behave. Orwell's 1984 all over again ! !
Any time I see at the top of the list a proposed program's "need" to hire and train more employees at taxpayer
expense I am skeptical of the real intent of the proposal. In today's supposedly "recovering" economy, if we are
to believe Washington's rhetoric, "real" wages for most jobs are still low, especially at the entry level, and
housing costs in SLO are already astronomical.
This proposed ordinance will only exacerbate the issue without guaranteeing a widespread solution to issues
you hope to address. I already pay the city of San Luis Obispo $46.00 for a Business License to operate my
home as a "Rental- Residential." While I am sure the City will say that I receive some benefit from the payment
of this fee, that benefit has yet to become obvious to me.
Will the proposed Annual Registration Fee of $65.00 be in addition to the aforementioned Business License
Fee I already pay, and, if so, why? What additional service will I receive for my $65.00 ? And then the $185.00
Inspection Fee on top of that in the year my property's ping pong ball pops out of the draft hopper for my
personal Inspector visit ? Where will it end ?
In future years when this initial revenue does not cover the expenses generated by all the Inspectors' salaries,
insurance premiums, various entitlement benefits (probably totaling in the range of $100,000.00 for each
Inspector to start), the additional vehicle fleet costs, paperwork processing and storage costs spread out amongst
various departments, what will the various Registration and Inspection Fees rise to ?
Another question I have is, "How will you find all those single - family and duplex owners who are not
currently accounted for in your computer tracking system to enforce this proposed ordinance in an equal and
fair way ?" England lost its colonies some 250 years ago over issues such as this. Will history repeat itself ?
The San Luis Obispo Association of Realtors has prepared a comprehensive three -page compilation of
Concerns and Recommendations (pdf attached) that I would urge you to absorb thoroughly and consider as you
attempt to render judgment on this issue.
While San Luis Obispo is a wonderful place to live and work (and to go to college), please do not let your
decision on this issue further push the cost of doing business and the cost of property in San Luis Obispo further
into the "elitist" range toward Santa Barbara, Mailbu, Brentwood, and such cities not far to our south.
I urge you to vote "No" on this ordinance as it is currently drafted.
Respectfully submitted.
Robert Small
Homeowner
San Luis Obispo, CA 93405