lily's diary
The Price Tag of Politics
by Lily
November 4
Last year I signed up to receive an email summary of police reports from the captain of Park Station. I’m not sure why. It’s really a downer to know how much crime is taking place right on your own block. Recently there was an incident on the 900 block of Ashbury that read, “Battery. 5:00 p.m. Tenant reported being hit with a broom by his landlord during a dispute.” It said nothing more, allowing my mind to ruminate about what had really gone down. I remembered having several times used a broom to take a swing at a mouse, but never a tenant. Although I had one tenant who vexed me so much that I broke down and cried, begging her to move.
She was a nurse who had fallen in love with a hog-riding meth addict. I think he hid his stash on the roof of the building. I suspect this because, after they finally vacated, the painters arrived one morning to find a window wide open and a boot print on the freshly painted sill. This was before rent control was extended to buildings of four units or less. Now, my tearful blubbering wouldn’t have meant a thing and the troublesome twosome would be mine for life.
November 11
The election results were predictable and I guess, in the long run, that’s a good thing. After all, John Avalos could have won. Of course the voters passed the bond measures but not the sales tax. (Renters would have to pay that one.) One thing that surprised me was how poorly David Chiu did, considering he got the Chronicle endorsement. The “moderate” candidates, presumably best for property owners, just didn’t have the fire in the you-know-where—even the only one who really looked like a mayor. Towering over the other candidates, and with a resonant voice, good looks and a thick resume in city government, Tony Hall resembles an older version of Gavin Newsom, but, alas, with too much baggage to ignite voters. In the meantime, another former Republican, and advocate for the death penalty, was emphatically voted into the office of district attorney. George Gascón has clearly become the city’s golden boy. Ross Mirkarimi, now secure as the county sheriff, may put more pressure on landlords to rent to ex-cons. And I can only wonder how his leadership will affect that department’s eviction team.
The real scandal of the election was the amount of money it cost to subsidize those running. The city paid $4 million for public funding of candidates during this campaign season. As was oft reported, San Francisco taxpayers ended up paying $260 for each vote garnered by mayoral hopeful Philip Ting and similar, if slightly lower, amounts for the others losing candidates.
December 2
It’s getting cold and heating my flats with their ten-foot ceilings is a challenge. I require that tenants in my building use pressed logs in their small Victorian fireplaces. They may burn dirtier, but they’re a lot safer than allowing for the possibility that a tenant will overload the fireplace with wood, or worse, paper. Recently a new “ecological” log has come on the market. It’s wrapped smartly in craft paper and looks a lot better sitting in the cradle of a fireplace than the old Duraflames. But if you read the small print, you see that it advises unwrapping the cover and using it as kindling. Hello? Doesn’t that eliminate the advantage of the pressed log? I’m strongly advising my young ecologically enlightened tenants against using them. Having tenants searching their unit for flammable materials to use as tinder is the stuff of nightmares.
December 9
During an open house for a vacant unit, a young woman applying for tenancy left me a print out of her credit report, although I didn’t ask for it, nor would I use it since I do my own credit checks. When she left, I started reading it with growing disbelief, and then sympathy. The girl had four student loans totaling nearly $200,000. The kicker was what she did for a living—a special education middle school teacher. Her salary was over $7,000 a month, which is a lot more than what I thought third-year teachers earned, but her debt was unreal. There was a car loan and credit card balances of $5,000 and $4,500. It’s rare when I turn down a teacher but, in this case, I felt her judgment was so bad that I simply didn’t want to take a chance.
December 12
A tenant living in my friend Robert’s apartment house recently passed away. He was a writer with many friends but no relatives. He had a lifetime of collected personal treasures of questionable value to anyone but himself. Recovering the unit was not easy. Well-meaning friends tried to sort out his stuff. Many keys were made. There were arguments among them, regarding what, Robert wasn’t sure.
Weeks passed. There were heavy footsteps on the stairs late at night as furniture and boxes were carted away. Inquiries he made to the executor of the man’s will were responded to with, “We’re working on it.” Knowing that a landlord cannot reclaim the unit of a deceased tenant until one month after the end of the last month’s rent, Robert could only wait. Finally, the month was over and the friends turned over the keys.
What greeted Robert were piles of old books, a few chairs, kitchen detritus and a refrigerator filled with mold-covered food. Being a long-time property owner, Robert was not fazed by dirt and decay; he was concerned with the value of what had been left. If the value is over $300, an auction must be arranged, noticed and held so that the estate can bid on the property. Judging it to be over that figure, he offered the executor $100 to purchase what they left behind. They agreed and he was spared the time and energy of holding an auction. Then he hauled it all to the dump. Pretty smart, that Robert.
December 13
I was waiting for my friend Maggie at the Pied Piper Bar last night, looking at the venerable Maxfield Parrish painting with its eerie light and faces of trusting young people being led away. Is it a metaphor for our country? Or simply for the Tenants Union? We homo sapiens are indeed susceptible to the clarion call of perceived righteousness. Occupy Wall Street and its local derivatives are current examples. As a card-carrying member of the Other 99 Percent, I respect their right to protest and can fully understand their cause. But, should the property owners and retail business folks whose income is being affected by this step aside for “history,” or insist on their right to earn a living? I would have asked the bartender for his opinion but, just then, Maggie arrived.
December 15
I admit to having been a diehard fan of Tim Lincecum during the championship season. I even made up a poem and sent it to a friend: “Timmy, oh, Timmy, the love of my life/ I know I’m too old to make you a wife/If I am to get you, there’s only one option/ How do you feel about late-term adoption?” So you can imagine how astounded I was to read that a fellow landlady had sued him in superior court for $350,000 to cover damages to her apartment.
Of course, I knew immediately that it wasn’t his fault. How could it be? I knew instinctively that he was the fall guy for the capers of his rambunctious teammates and even thought better of him for not ratting them out. I was willing to ignore her allegation that he “broke, stained, defaced, tore, injured or destroyed” household properties, figuring, boys will be boys. But when I read the allegation that he failed to pay his rent on time, well, that was a bridge too far. I severed my allegiance and didn’t even sympathize with his disappointing 2011 season. My love has its limits.
Lily’s Diary is written by a longtime rental property owner who reserves the right to remain anonymous on the grounds that her tenants might gang up on her. Comments, corrections or ideas are welcome at lilysdiary@aol.com.