Jesse For Rent Board!

I need your help!

The Rent Board Convention- happening Sunday August 3, 4pm in Berkeley- will choose 5 candidates for the 5 open seats. This Rent Board slate has been the winning slate for the past several elections and has ensured that the Rent Board has protected tenants during the housing bubble as much as legally possible. It's also begun work on dealing with the foreclosure crisis as it relates to rental properties.

There are 13 people competing for the 5 seats- including myself. I will be honored to run for Rent Board if the Convention chooses me- but I will not run if it chooses other candidates. Since the slate is progressive & has been filled with common sense candidates, I'm not willing to distract from the slate's success by running an independent campaign.

I need you- Berkeley resident & Jesse Townley supporter- to attend this Sunday's convention at 4 PM at the North Berkeley Senior Center at 1901 Hearst (c/s MLK Jr. Way, 2 blocks from University Ave). It's open to all & accessible. A donation of $3-10 is requested to cover the cost of the room. Please vote for me - and every other candidate you prefer!

Berkeley Rent Board http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/DepartmentHome.aspx?id=9546

What do I stand for? Here's part of the questionnaire I submitted to the Convention's selection committee:

Q: Tell us about three or more issues that you consider important to tenants in Berkeley.

1. Providing comprehensive disaster preparedness & planning for apartment dwellers. Residents of single family homes are easier to contact, so our overworked & understaffed Office of Emergency Services has not been able to do anywhere near as much effective outreach to tenants of apartment buildings.

2. Ensuring affordable housing that’s actually affordable to residents and potential residents who are earning at or close to minimum wage. The further service employees have to travel to work, the more environmental damage is done to our planet, plus intelligent zoning of appropriate projects in existing neighborhoods will ensure economic & ethnic diversity.

3. Expanding environmental programs in cooperation with property owners & tenants- from solar power to composting to recycling- will ensure a healthier future for all.

4. Ensuring that the upcoming Mitigation piece of the Soft Story Ordinance results in structurally safer buildings for tenants while controlling the costs for both property owners & tenants. Also, ensuring that rental properties with less than 5 units are covered by this or subsequent legislation will lessen the amount of death and dismemberment after the next major earthquake.

5. Identifying non-property tax sources for City revenue. This will increase city funds for city programs benefiting tenants and property owners alike, since there will be less cause for anti-tax groups like BASTA to campaign against necessary revenue programs.

There's a lot more in the questionnaire- maybe I'll post more of it later? Let me know if you want to read more, thanks!