The Weekly Newspaper of El Segundo
Herald Publications - El Segundo, Hawthorne, Lawndale & Inglewood Community Newspapers Since 1911 - (310) 322-1830 - Vol. 108, No. 49 - December 5, 2019
Inside
This Issue
Certified & Licensed
Professionals.....................14
Classifieds............................4
Crossword/Sudoku.............4
Entertainment......................6
Legals..................................11
Letters...................................3
Pets......................................15
Police Reports.....................3
Real Estate.....................7-10
Sports.............................. 5,14
Weekend
Forecast
New Restaurants Celebrate
Openings on Rosecrans
Last Monday was a special sneak peek dinner and ribbon cutting for the new restaurants Chin Chin and The Butcher, The Baker, The Cappuccino Maker
at 2041 Rosecrans. Chin Chin’s offers Fresh California
Asian Cuisine, while
BBCM features Modern California Cuisine with European Influences. The photo includes Continental Development Corporation’s Sherry Kramer and Richard Lundquist (first and third
from left), El Segundo Chamber President/CEO Marsha Hansen (second from left), Mayor Pro Tem Carol Pirsztuk (fourth from left) and Chin Chin restaurant representatives.Photo Provided by ES Chamber.
Urgent Need to Halt Evictions
Dominates Council Discussion
By Rob McCarthy
The El Segundo City Council teed up another
housing rental issue Tuesday night, and this
one had nothing to do with allowing short-term
stays in the city. Several El Segundo renters said
their landlords had given them 60-day eviction
notices to move out before Jan. 1 when a new
law would make it more difficult and costly
to evict tenants and raise rents.
Gov. Gavin Newsom in early October
signed Assembly Bill 1482, known as the Tenant
Protection Act of 2019. The law, when it
becomes effective next year, will stabilize rents
across the state and hold yearly increases by
landlords to 5 percent, plus the local inflation
rate. The rent cap applies to tenants who’ve
been in their units at least one year. It also bans
landlords from evicting tenants without cause.
El Segundo mail carrier Wendy Appel told
Council members she is being evicted from her
apartment. A six-year resident and a disabled
veteran, Appel said she wants to stay a part
of the community and added, “I’m just asking
you to help us.”
Tamara Kcehowski, a 16-year resident, said
her landlords raised her rent by 15.6 percent
ahead of the price controls that go into effect
in three weeks. She received less than 60 days
notice of her rent increase and she believes
her landlord took advantage of her and other
tenants in the building by “jacking up” the
rents before Jan. 1 arrives. “I came in support
because this is falling on my daughter and I,”
she said, adding that she is concerned the situation
will put the two of them in the streets.
Another resident, Stephanie Sosa, told Council
members that since the Tenant Protection Law
was signed into law on Oct. 8, at least 36 cities
have approved ordinances that shield renters
in good standing from being evicted between
now and the end of the year However, she
said property owners of multi-family dwellings
and duplexes have used the long lead time to
unfairly kick out tenants who’ve done nothing
wrong. “Our building was sold in El Segundo
on October 16, and we were immediately
given 60-day eviction notices on our door,”
said, adding that the building was listed for
sale immediately. Another apartment building
in north El Segundo was sold about the same
time, she said, and all of the tenants were given
eviction notices. Sosa described many of the
tenants as being disabled and elderly. “And
now, people who’ve been in El Segundo 25
years are being kicked out,” she said.
Sosa asked the City Council to pass an
emergency ordinance that puts the January
tenant protections in force sooner. At least 36
California cities have approved rent control
laws since October in response to the mass
evictions happening across the state, she said.
Inglewood, Torrance, Gardena and Los Angeles
all have ordinances in place this year.
Council members were moved by the residents’
accounts of the unintended consequences
of the renter protection law, with Councilman
Chris Pimentel calling the legislation poorly
written and ill conceived. Under the bill’s
language, the only way for a property owner
to make upgrades and repairs is to penalize the
people who live in the buildings. El Segundo
residents being displaced during the Christmas
holidays is “heartbreaking,” Pimentel said.
El Segundo, along with the cities that
preempted the Tenant Protection Act with
sometimes stronger ordinances about rent
increases and evictions have been placed in
a “bizarre Sophie’s Choice,” Pimentel said.
“We’re not in the business of robbing from
our property owners.”
Don Brann, who is leaving the Council after
the Dec. 17 meeting, said that state legislators
and the governor continue to make bad laws
about housing. Rent increases and a lack of
affordable rental housing is blamed for sending
more Californians into homelessness.
City Attorney Mark Hensley opined that an
urgent ordinance, even if it were passed this
month, would not halt the evictions already
happening in the El Segundo rental market.
“Anything the Council might do would be prospective.
It would only help out people talking
here this evening,” he said. Rent control ordinances
are complex and often contain a dozen
exceptions, he said. Cities spend a year or more
drafting those ordinances. “There may be tenants
who benefit from an emergency ordinance.”
Mayor Drew Boyles said he was open to a
special meeting for the Council to hear more
public comment about what’s happening within
the El Segundo rental housing market. He
wants input from land owners before moving
forward with any emergency ordinance, and
insisted the City of El Segundo won’t “ram
through bad policy” about rentals.
The item will be placed on the Dec. 17
Council agenda. After Jan. 1, landlords still
can evict tenants for non-payment of rent,
destruction of property, and being a nuisance
to the neighbors. However, landlords must pay
Friday
AM Clouds/
PM Sun
65˚/56˚
Saturday
Showers
64˚/57˚
Sunday
Partly
Cloudy
64˚/51˚
See City Council, page 12