Two recent legal decisions may help the case of a city created on the dream of affordable living in Silicon Valley, the city of East Palo Alto. One displacement watch activist said that he "expects many, many more legal victories to come."

A San Mateo County Superior Court Judge ruled on September 5th that East Palo Alto is entitled to crucial evidence they need in their fight against mega-landlord Page Mill Properties. At issue are what the city deems to be illegal rent increases at roughly 1,700 apartment units in rent stabilized East Palo Alto. Page Mill Properties had asked the Court to seal documents pertaining to the rent increases. The city won a crucial victory with the judge's decision and will get the information they need in time for a scheduled debate over the validity of the rent increases September 19th.

This win for renters comes on top of a Rent Stabilization Board Hearing on August 27th that found in favor of the tenants. The Board denied Page Mill's appeal of a decision that limited increases to 3.2% of the rent that was actually charged the previous year. In some instances the landlord has levied increases more than ten times that amount.

One tenant who is following the legal proceedings said, "I personally think that the arguments presented by Page Mill [are] little more than examples of convoluted attempts to pervert the meaning of the Rent Stabilization Ordinance."

Tenants supported by rent control activists from Youth United for Community Action and the Raging Grannies demonstrated their displeasure with Page Mill's continued legal attempts to flout the ordinance; they staged a sit-in and street demo at the landlord's downtown Palo Alto office on September 2nd. Police were called but there were no arrests.

City Hall Hearing, most recent posting | Sit-In part I | Sit-In part II | Send a Message to the Landlord | Youth United | Raging Granies

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