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Yahoo!Following a mediation session on Thursday, the owners of a Modoc Road apartment complex apparently had mercy on the families they are evicting from the complex in order to do a complete renovation of the property. Now, the families will be allowed to remain in their homes through the holiday season.
The initial eviction notice, which the more than 30 families that lived at the Hillshore Gardens Apartments at 2541 Modoc Road received October 12, came at the worst possible time, said the tenants, many of whom are Hispanic, with family from Mexico. The families originally had to leave their apartments on December 12, the day on which many Latino Catholics celebrate the feast day of one of Mexico’s most central religious icons, the Virgin of Guadalupe. And that’s not to mention the fact the day falls less than two weeks before Christmas. On top of that, the rental market was recently made that much tighter by the more than 200 families in Santa Barbara and Montecito displaced by the Tea Fire who are now seeking new homes.
The company that owns the complex, MRP Santa Barbara LLC, purchased the property in early 2008 and has already received city approval to renovate. New exterior finishes, roofing, windows and doors, lighting, balconies, patios, and other additions are planned. The remodel was approved by the Architectural Board of Review on September 2, and the company obtained a building permit, according to city staff.
The owners have made it no mystery that they intend to raise the price of the newly remodeled units, and with Hillshore property manager Kevin Hansen being listed on Santa Barbara City College’s Web site as a resource for students seeking housing as well as the property manager of Student Residence Services, it appears the owners could be gearing their housing toward a more specific demographic. Some other complexes remodeled by the company have now been filled with students.
With affordable rental housing already at a premium, the problem hasn’t been helped by City College, which, with 19,401 credit-seeking students, has seen a “significant increase” in enrollment the last two semesters. (In contrast, SBCC reported having 18,561 for-credit students enrolled in fall 2007.) According to a spokesperson, the economic downturn has driven people to community colleges for retraining and new skills. The school doesn’t offer housing for its students.
While Dave Mercer, one of the owners, previously indicated the renovation was already behind schedule and consequently didn’t seem keen on further delays, something apparently changed at the mediation session Thursday, though the exact agreement reached is confidential. Neither Mercer nor Hansen returned phone calls.
Paul Wellman
Belen Seara
But Belen Seara — executive director of advocacy group PUEBLO, which helped organize the 23 evicted families for the mediation — said families would be able to stay through the holidays and would “need help for housing” by an unspecified date in late January. Traditionally, a good deal of housing opens up in December and January as a result of students’ end-of-semester move-out. It also appears that a group of tenants who moved out from Hillshore Gardens on November 1 and who were originally denied their security deposits because they didn’t give the landlord a 30-day notice will now get that money back.
Manuel Juarez has been raising his family at the complex for the last 15 years. “It’s unjust to face eviction during the month of December, especially with our children and their education,” he said through a translator. “For us, it’s important to spend the holiday season here. It will be difficult for us to find housing elsewhere.” More than 90 children could have been impacted by the move. A vigil and press conference were held in the weeks following the eviction notice to bring awareness to the community.
The South Coast is no stranger to evictions by landlords looking for increased rent. In 2006, the City Council denied an appeal that would have kept the owners of apartments at 85 North La Cumbre Road from demolishing their 10-unit apartment complex and replacing it with upscale condos and one below-market unit. Resulting from that was the tenant displacement assistance ordinance, which allowed tenants a 60-day notice before an application was filed, the right to terminate the lease, and monetary assistance with relocation. Tenants would also get the first right of refusal if new units were proposed. The same month, Conquest Student Housing evicted 55 families from Isla Vista’s Cedarwood apartments in favor of remodeling the units to attract higher paying students. “This is an issue, as a community, we need to address,” Seara said. “We have to figure out how to keep the low-income community around.”
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video news from a couple of weeks ago, before anyone knew if mediation would occur:
http://www.independent.com/news/2008/nov...
David_Pritchett (David Pritchett)
November 26, 2008 at 9:47 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Seara said. “We have to figure out how to keep the low-income community around.”
FINALLY! Somebody calling it for what it is: A $$$ driven maneuver! Nothing to to w/ skin color, just the color of $$$ :) henry
hank (anonymous profile)
November 26, 2008 at 10:59 a.m. (Suggest removal)
First of all...are ALL the tenants "families"? Or are the tenants with children the only ones who matter? Are ALL the tenants Mexican? Can none of these tenants, living in this country, speak English and advocate on their own behalf?
Here it is; right in our faces; the nightmare of being a renter in Santa Barbara. No shelter security. Scared to death all the time. And when the landlord feels like it, you are outta there so Silly College kids can be moved in at twice the rent you can afford to pay.
This is not a "family" problem or a "Mexican" problem. This is EVERYBODY'S problem. You are dead-on as always, Henry, this is about the color of money, pure and simple. If you have enough green, you're in.
Of course, these advocacy groups and the media like to play up that family and Mexican angle, because those things are what sell papers, advertising, and gain sympathy. Nobody cares about some poor old man who has nobody, or a single adult working three jobs just to be able to breathe the air in their own hometown, no sir! Kids and racial divisiveness are what sells, and always have.
Simmering underneath this ugliness is the Church of UCSB and City College; these schools oversubscribe students every year, packing them in this area like sardines in a can, and this city can no longer absorb them. SB is completely saturated with college kids...college kids with parents who have money so guess what?
Out on the streets go the locals. Ever wonder where many local homeless people are coming from?
Yep; evictions to make way for college kids taking over apartment buildings and yuppies creating gentrification in old, established neighborhoods.
These tenants have to go somewhere, and no, I hate to disappoint everyone especially at this feel-good time of year, but they are not all families and they are not all Mexican. Many are singles, couples without kids, elderly on fixed incomes and disabled people who have no one.
Again; NOT a "Family" issue....NOT a "Mexican" issue...this is a haves-VS-have-nots issue, and we CAN end it with some creative thinking and by letting go of the old stereotypes and erroneous beliefs about who the needy of this community really are:
They are ANYBODY who doesn't have enough green stuff to continually buy their way out of trouble. And that has to stop.
Holly (anonymous profile)
November 28, 2008 at 1:23 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Holly, I live in a triplex in Isla Vista (20 yrs. now) & can't tell you how many times a group of students has tried to take over that complex.
Back in 1993 I had the Asian fraternity trying their hardest to get me to move so they could take it over as a frat house.
Their tactics included trying to blast their lame wannabe hip hop @ ungodly hrs. of the night.
Unlucky for them I was playing in a few speed metal & punk rock bands & decided to have "practices" everynight during their little get togethers. Their harassment came to a halt.
Then there's the girls back in 1995 that moved into the front unit who's intent was to try & drive me out so their boyfriends could move in next door. Again, I won.
Now I have a group that thought it was going to become party central, not that I mind parties, hell, still love them. But on a weeknight when I have to get my butt up early to go to work, nope, ain't gonna fly.
The problem of landlords ushering that mindset doesn't help much either.
Lucky for me, our landlord is private & she knows I maintain the place in ways that saves her $$$ as well as keep the place clean & safe from idiots trying to vandalize it.
By the way, same idiots attending UCSB & SBCC, supposedly educated, but stupid in social norms & cowards when met face to face w/ an angry responsible tenant packing a Tippmann 98 paintball gun.
As anyone can see, it's about a mentality here. The question is whose mentality is worse? The potential student tenants out to take over places or the greedy landlords out to make a buck from the potential student tenants?
Bottom line: It's all about the color green :) henry
hank (anonymous profile)
November 28, 2008 at 2:15 p.m. (Suggest removal)
"By the way, same idiots attending UCSB & SBCC, supposedly educated, but stupid in social norms & cowards when met face to face w/ an angry responsible tenant..." -Hank-
These are the same fools that drive up the bumper of the person in front of them with their huge S.U.V's and big pick up trucks but as Hank says, confront them and they fall apart. These obnoxious ignorant kids of today become the Yuppies of tomorrow.
As for music, cranking up the Who's "Won't get fooled again" is always good medicine. For that matter, pretty much anything by the Who should either drive the bad guys away, or possibly convert them.
billclausen (anonymous profile)
November 28, 2008 at 2:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
BillC:"For that matter, pretty much anything by the Who should either drive the bad guys away, or possibly convert them."
Hey, as long as it's anything before Tommy, I'm cool w/ it. Now I know, Baba O'Riley, Won't Get Fooled Again & My Wife were all after Tommy, but I'll GLADLY make that exception :) henry
hank (anonymous profile)
November 28, 2008 at 8:30 p.m. (Suggest removal)
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