ALAMEDA (KRON) — The Alameda City Council is taking up the issue of rent increases and evictions.
There was a special meeting Wednesday night, and people from both sides of the issue packed the chambers. The city council is deciding whether or not to issue a 65-day moratorium on rent increases and evictions in Alameda.
The renter’s coalition said that rents in Alameda have gone up 52 percent in the last six years, a sign of the times. The coalition said the city needs to step in to regulate the rents the way it is done in other parts of the Bay Area.
“There is rent control which exists all around us and in the City of Alameda,” renter’s association spokeswoman Catherine Pauling said. “It’s open season. There are absolutely no regulations on what a landlord can charge for rent.”
Other disagree with Pauling.
“Any restriction on my ability to rent is like anybody here getting a restriction on what they would earn in income,” landlord Mark Lanerth said.
Property owners said there are a few bad apples who are taking advantage of tenents, but some said regulations need to be put in place, even if it is to protect a small number of people. Leasing agents said there is already a way to protest rent increases and evictions.
It is called the Rent Advisory Board, and new changes have been made to help tenants who feel they are being treated unfairly.
“Those changes just became effective on Oct. 1, and they haven’t even had a chance to work,” leasing agent Lisa Fowler said. “We heavily favor mediation. You get better results when people are given the opportunity to have input into solutions, and you get less drama.”
During the meeting, Alameda police said they arrested two men for assault, with one of them arrested for resisting arrest.
At around 7 p.m., during the city council meeting, a staffer notified Alameda police officers present at the meeting that people in the overflow areas outside the council chambers were planning to rush the meeting, according to Lt. Anthony Munoz. During an attempt to rush, the staffer and an Alameda police officer were assaulted by two men.
The officer did not need medical attention and the man was placed under arrest, police said.
Police officers attempted to place one man assaulting the staffer under arrest, but the man resisted arrest. The man sustained a bloody nose, during when officers attempted to arrest him.
After being placed under arrest, he was transported to a hospital before being booked into jail, police said. The staffer sustained non-life threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital for treatment.