Candidate for
Rent Stabilization Board Commissioners; City of Berkeley

I am a sitting Rent Board Commissioner who was chosen to run again this term by a diverse coalition of tenants, landlords, and property owners at a grassroots convention that was held in July. During my present term I have worked to combat tenant harassment, evictions of below-market-rate renters, and habitability problems, emphasizing the need to retrofit seismically unsafe buildings. For small landlords I've initiated a special series of workshops to guide them through rent board regulations and help them avoid late-registration penalties. I've worked to improve every aspect of customer service. I am currently focused on dedicating a customer-service staffer to small property owners; organizing a habitability-issues workshop for tenants; and advocating at Sacramento for affordable housing legislation, especially legislation that allows cities more autonomy. I am also working for universal registration, so that owners of buildings currently exempt from rent control can help finance the eviction protection and habitability programs that protect their tenants. Right now, the full burden of this protection falls on owners of covered units.

In addition to the Rent Board, I have been involved in my community in many ways over the years. These ways include volunteering for literacy programs at UC Berkeley, Berkeley Library, and Berkeley Schools. And I have taken part in many union efforts, including serving as a union rep at U.C. Berkeley, co-coordinating the community involvement at the 2005-6 Berkeley Honda strike, strategizing with the striking Woodfin Hotel employees, and working to renew the union contract at Berkeley Bowl in 2010. I have also worked for SEEDS, a nonprofit mediation center devoted to peaceful dispute resolution and restorative justice.

I bring a sense of fairness to my work on the Rent Board. I'm looking forward to four more years so I can continue to expand outreach to both tenants and landlords, defend our rent control laws, and help make Berkeley a city we can all proudly call home.