Oi, this weather is driving people crazy, including District Attorney Kamala Harris who’s using the energy to take take it out on polluters.
ML’s Nicholas Kusnetz reported yesterday that the Valencia business corridor may still have life. But the real estate saga continues. Beyond Chron is chronicling the likely eviction of twelve tenants on 19th Street that’s likely due to a bank scheme on the part of a Mission landlord, according to the news blog published by the Tenderloin Housing Clinic. The landlord is evoking the Ellis Act, which seems to resurface when times get economically tough. Beyond Chron gives a pithy definition of the act:
The Ellis Act is a state law that allows owners to buy rental property, evict the tenants because they’re “going out of business,” and then re-sell each unit to the highest bidder.
A quick look at Rent Board stats seems to show that the current financial crisis ended a brief downward trend in the number of Ellis Act eviction notices, which were up to 265 in the 2007-2008 fiscal year, compared to 210 in FY 2006-2007.
And speaking of real estate, though the city’s baseball fields are dwindling and falling apart, ML’s Jordan Conn follows one high school team that perserveres nonetheless. Go Bears!