Culver City Observer -

Dear Editor,

We are currently circulating a ballot initiative among Culver City voters, requiring voter approval for rent control. We only have a couple months left to secure the 2800 signatures needed to get it on the November ballot. In an effort to meet our goal, we are bringing on a professional signature gathering company to help us get signatures, starting tomorrow.

Collecting signatures is a time intensive process. Given our infant state as a PAC, we just don’t have the infrastructure to do this with pure volunteer labor. We will still be out there collecting signatures alongside them. They’ll be working with us, not for us.

This also means you’ll be seeing more of us outside public centers throughout Culver City, or knocking on your door, over the next month. We hope you’ll engage us and sign our petition.

The proposal is simple: any council that wants to pass rent control needs to put it up to a popular vote in an election. By signing this petition, you agree to put this proposal on the ballot in November. It then has to pass a final approval by voters before council is bound by it.

We understand rent control is a contentious issue, and some feel like it’s a good idea given the increasing cost of housing in California. What is not contentious is that we should be able to have a real debate about this issue, not have it shoved in through the back door. Our current council never ran on rent control – in fact, at the last election, candidates implied it was “off the table.” The rent freeze was supposed to “start a conversation” – and yet this initiative is the only conversation we’re having about this, while council goes full tilt to make it permanent.

It’s emblematic of a council that we feel is not acting in good faith with residents. By signing this, you are only voicing your support for a good faith dialogue.

Sincerely,

Ron Bassilian, President