In support of implementing rent control
Eryka Milligan <[email protected]>
Thu 2/29/2024 3:46 PM
To:Barbara Coler <[email protected]>;Bruce Ackerman <[email protected]>;Chance Cutrano <[email protected]>;Lisel Blash <[email protected]>;Stephanie Hellman <[email protected]>; Fairfax Town Council <[email protected]> Hello,
I understand you are meeting tonight to discuss implementing the rent control ordinances that were passed over a year ago.
I appreciate the time you have taken to listen to the community before, during and after these ordinances passed. I hope now that we can start robust implementation to fully protect Fairfax's renters. I think many in town support that these should be driven by our dedicated staff from the town, not by outside consultants.
Thanks again for your support and strongly encourage you to move forward with implementation.
Thanks,
Eryka Raines
112 Wood Lane
Fairfax CA 94930
Fwd: Tonight’s Meeting
Barbara Coler <[email protected]>
Thu 2/29/2024 3:57 PM
To:Christine Foster <[email protected]>;Barbara Coler <[email protected]> Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: Maureen Mcmanus <[email protected]>
Date: February 29, 2024 at 2:51:23 PM PST
To: Stephanie Hellman <[email protected]>, Chance Cutrano <[email protected]>, Barbara Coler <[email protected]>, Bruce Ackerman <[email protected]>, Lisel Blash <[email protected]> Subject: Tonight’s Meeting
Good Afternoon Madam Mayor and Town Council Members. Barbara, Chance, Stephanie, Bruce and Lisel: Hope this email finds you all well, healthy and happy. I will make this brief, I know you have heard it all. Please consider implementing an interim plan regarding rent stabilization and just cause eviction protections. Hopefully it will be comprehensive. I will respect any decision you all will make. Thank you again for all your endless hard and difficult (at times) work.
Respectfully,
Maureen McManus
Fairfax
Sent from my iPhone
Please add to tonight's 2/29/24 public packets
Marin Town and Country Club <[email protected]> Thu 2/29/2024 3:03 PM
To:Barbara Coler <[email protected]>
Cc:Bruce Ackerman <[email protected]>;Stephanie Hellman <[email protected]>;Chance Cutrano <[email protected]>;Lisel Blash <[email protected]>;Christine Foster <[email protected]> Barbara Coler February 29, 2024
Town of Fairfax Mayor
142 Bolinas Rd
Fairfax, CA 94930
RE: Council meeting 2/29/24
Option A
Dear Barbara:
Just like you and all of us, we the people vote in our elected officials with the assumption that they will represent our point of view. There are areas where we are all swayed one way or another and sometimes back and forth depending on the information considered.
Our elected officials come from our areas we call home. We wouldn’t want to vote in someone who lives in a different state or on the moon. They wouldn’t understand the local and subtle nuances.
Sadly today, it is too common that our local officials lack the candor and confidence to vote on something themselves. Many elected officials are employing a deference towards consultants, which in turn advise and tell the elected officials how to vote. The problem here is, consultants are not from our community. Consultants are here to make change and glean whatever money they can.
Please look within yourself and find the courage to stop the consultant gravy train. Our town could use this money. We elected our officials assuming that they have the confidence, candor, and intelligence to vote within the parameters of good governance.
Option A, before you this evening is drafted by consultants in a vacuum away from local input. This option is further cloistered by allowing us only 2 minutes to share meaningful information that would sway you, if you chose to listen.
Please reconsider. Stand up and do what is right.
Remember you are elected to represent the voice of the majority of your constituents while protecting the voice of the minority of your constituents.
Thank you
Michaael Mackintosh
Public Comment on Agenda Item 2 for the Special Town Council Meeting: February 29, 2024
PJ Feffer <[email protected]>
Thu 2/29/2024 3:04 PM
To:Fairfax Town Council <[email protected]> Hello Fairfax Councilmembers,
I am writing, solely on my on behalf as an individual resident of the Town, to urge this Council to do everything it can to implement and provide for the enforcement of the Rent Control and Just Cause ordinances as soon as possible. With regards to the substance of tonight's matter for consideration, it is long overdue for the town to create and implement a robust and comprehensive registry. To that end, I think the Town should both require registration by each landlord prior to their ability to petition for increase under the ordinance and proactively require registration of anyone renting out a home in the Town, and seek to register all such rentals.
The Town should avoid any option that limits registration to only those petitioning the Town. It is in the interest of the Town to have all such rentals registered. During discussion of these ordinances in the Town, we've heard reference to all of the unregistered essentially under-the-table rentals. I believe former Mayor Frank Egger once noted that the believed there to be 300 to 400 such rentals. The complaint was that those unregistered rentals would see yet one more regulation and decide that was the final straw under which the could no longer rent out housing (as opposed to all of the other laws and regulations governing renting out housing that already exist and they are presumably ignoring).
But it brings up a serious concern, if those rental properties aren't registered with the town, those landlords are in essence stealing from the town and all of its residents. They are earning business income (the rent paid by the tenant), and not paying taxes to the town for operating such business in the Town. The Town and it's taxpayers are then subsidizing the costs of that landlord, their tenant gets all the benefit of use of Town infrastructure and other aspects of living here (rightfully so), it is a part of the value of such rental housing: you pay for location. The Landlord is then free-riding on the town, part of the value in rent they are being paid is attributable to the Town and what it spends Town funds on, that is one reason they should rightfully owe tax on that income. Other businesses operating in the town must pay license fees. There is no reasonable justification for exempting someone in the business of renting out even one housing unit should not also be subject to standard business license fees.
Again, please help to ensure all such rental housing is registered with the town. An appropriate fee to cover the cost of such registration system is absolutely the bare minimum of what is reasonable.
Thank you.
Statement in Support of Rent Control for Public Comment for 29 February 2024 Fairfax Town Council Meeting
Sky Collins <[email protected]>
Fri 3/1/2024 8:50 AM
To:Fairfax Town Council <[email protected]> 1 attachments (19 KB)
MCYD Statement in Support of Fairfax Rent Control.docx; To whom it may concern,
Below and attached are a statement from the Marin County Young Democrats for public consumption in support of Fairfax's process toward rent stabilization and renter protections.
Thank you,
Skylar Collins
MCYD Communications Director
Statement in Support of the Fairfax Town Council
And its Process Toward Rent Control
To the Fairfax Town Council,
I am writing today on behalf of the Marin County Young Democrats (MCYD) to thank the Fairfax Town Council for continuing to pursue renter protections and to urge the Council to continue on its necessary and well-considered path.
MYCD has adopted a formal statement in support of the rent control measures being introduced around Marin County; we applaud the Fairfax Council’s leadership in this area, its careful and laborious engagement with stakeholders, and its balancing toward a compromise which accomplishes the highest feasible level of protection while minimizing downsides.
MCYD supports rent control for the foreseeable future in Marin because many young people simply cannot afford to live in Marin. We know better than most that local retail and service industry jobs rarely pay enough for a person to even share a room, let alone to have time for the education, leisure, or retirement savings required for us to have the same opportunities as our parents and grandparents did.
Increased rent costs are a major driver of this generational disparity, and we remain unconvinced that the higher profit margins afforded to landlords are a productive trade-off for society’s well-being.
I personally have attended several meetings of the Council both in person and online, and further applaud the council for its organization and attention, often late into the evening.
Thank you for taking such steps that are bold and healthy for the community; we wish you the best.
Yours,
Skylar Collins
Communications Director
Marin County Young Democrats
Statement in Support of the Fairfax Town Council
And its Process Toward Rent Control
To the Fairfax Town Council,
I am writing today on behalf of the Marin County Young Democrats (MCYD) to thank the Fairfax Town Council for continuing to pursue renter protections and to urge the Council to continue on its necessary and well-considered path.
MYCD has adopted a formal statement in support of the rent control measures being introduced around Marin County; we applaud the Fairfax Council’s leadership in this area, its careful and laborious engagement with stakeholders, and its balancing toward a compromise which accomplishes the highest feasible level of protection while minimizing downsides.
MCYD supports rent control for the foreseeable future in Marin because many young people simply cannot afford to live in Marin. We know better than most that local retail and service industry jobs rarely pay enough for a person to even share a room, let alone to have time for the education, leisure, or retirement savings required for us to have the same opportunities as our parents and grandparents did. Increased rent costs are a major driver of this generational disparity, and we remain unconvinced that the higher profit margins afforded to landlords are a productive trade-off for society’s well-being.
I personally have attended several meetings of the Council both in person and online, and further applaud the council for its organization and attention, often late into the evening.
Thank you for taking such steps that are bold and healthy for the community; we wish you the best.
Yours,
Skylar Collins
Communications Director
Marin County Young Democrats
2/29/24, 7:22 PM Mail - Christine Foster - Outlook
https://outlook.office.com/mail/inbox/id/AAMkADQxZjU1MjI1LTZmYjctNDYzMS1hMzQwLWIyOGZkMDEyMmNjOABGAAAAAADF8cX9eOPtQZJowdg… 1/1 Rent Stabilization Ordinance - implementation (2/29/24) Susan Adams <[email protected]>
Thu 2/29/2024 6:59 PM
To:Fairfax Town Council <[email protected]> Dear Town Council members:
I fully support the Council’s adoption of one of implementation plans as soon as reasonably possible. I applaud the Council’s adoption of the ordinance.
Thank you,
Susan D. Adams
47 Tamalpais Road
Fairfax, CA
Sent from my iPhone