Oakland Eviction Measure Too Tight to Call

By M. Nicole Nazzaro and Lisa P. White
November 6, 2002 01:00 AM

OAKLAND -- The vote count for Oakland's controversial "Just Cause" eviction measure flip-flopped throughout Tuesday night, with the outcome still too close to call as of midnight. Updated Nov. 6, 1:00 am

At midnight with 156 of 244 precincts reporting, 50.8 percent "Yes" votes had been counted, compared to 49.2 percent "No" votes. The difference was less than 800 votes out of more than 47,000 votes counted.

Bessie Robinson, 79, sits outside St. Mary's Center in Oakland, where she hopes to get help with renting a studio apartment. The center supports Measure EE, which it says will help seniors and disabled people secure housing in Oakland. Photo by Christine Gralow.

Measure EE would give Oakland tenants far-reaching new protections against evictions. Landlords would only be able to evict tenants for a set of specific reasons including nonpayment of rent, breach of lease, damaging the property, or engaging in disorderly or illegal activity. The measure protects a landlord's rights to evict in order to reoccupy the unit or allow a family member to move in.

Opponents of EE argued that the measure would make it more difficult for landlords to evict suspected drug dealers. "No on EE" campaign materials stated that the measure would allow renters to sublet their homes to anyone they wished without the landlord's approval, including owners of vicious dogs, convicted felons, and sex offenders.

But supporters of Measure EE say that this is a mischaracterization of the initiative. According to the authors of the ballot argument for EE, the initiative "specifically grants landlords the right to evict tenants who 'substantially violate a material term of the tenancy.' A no-sublet clause is a material term."

A crowd of 150 supporters of the measure gathered at "Yes on EE" headquarters tonight in downtown Oakland. While waiting for the results to come in, they congratulated each other on getting out the vote and acknowledged volunteers' contributions to the campaign by giving out Mardi Gras-style beads.

Scott McCandless, 34, a renter who lives in the Rockridge area of Oakland, was involved in the first "Just Cause" campaign two years ago when Oakland's city council was asked to pass the measure. When that campaign failed, McCandless walked the streets of Oakland gathering petition signatures to place the measure on the ballot. For this campaign, McCandless worked the phone bank and walked the precincts talking to voters.

"Having a safe home is a basic human right," said McCandless. "I don't think people should be kicked out of their homes."

McCandless noted the diversity of the group that had been attracted to campaign in favor of the initiative. "Look around," said McCandless, gesturing to the crowd. "This really is Oakland. All the neighborhoods are represented."

Daniel and Regina Bauer stand in the courtyard of St. Mary's Center, where they are seeking help with housing and food. The couple recently moved to Oakland, where they believe they are being discriminated against by landlords because he is disabled and she is deaf. Photo by Christine Gralow.

By 11 pm, the mood at "Yes on EE" headquarters was noticeably more subdued. The crowd had thinned to about 50 people.

The "No on EE" campaign, led by the landlord lobby group Oaklanders for Safe Neighborhoods, did not have an official campaign headquarters. Their campaign was run by Oakland-based political consultant Larry Tramutola.

Wayne Rowland, a spokesman for Oaklanders for Safe Neighborhoods, said on Tuesday that passage of Measure EE would lead to fewer rental units in Oakland because of the new regulations that would be imposed on landlords. Rowland said that the measure would make landlords less likely to rent their units because the ordinance would require all landlord-tenant disputes to be settled in court.

"Property owners didn't get into the business to be hassled by lawyers," said Rowland. One campaign mailer sent by the "No on EE" campaign depicted a cartoon with an out-of-town lawyer playing with a marionette labeled "Yes on EE."

If EE wins, "the real losers will be the people it says it's supposed to protect," said Rowland.

Rowland said that language in the measure makes it impossible for landlords to evict tenants who have lived in the unit for five years or more and who are over the age of 60, disabled, or catastrophically ill. This would apply even if the landlord wanted to move back into the unit or move a family member into the unit, he said.

The measure states that a landlord can only evict such tenants if the landlord or the family member moving into the unti was also either over age 60, disabled, or catastrophically ill.

"[It will be] disastrous for housing in Oakland" if Measure EE passes, said Rowland.

In recent days, the campaign had been overshadowed by controversy over two campaign mailers designed by Tramutola and sent out to Oakland voters in the past week -- one which Oakland City Councilmember Nancy Nadel said misrepresented her stance on EE, and the other which depicted the "No on EE" logo alongside the logo for Measure DD, the "Clean Water, Safe Parks" initiative. Oakland City Councilmember Danny Wan, the main proponent of Measure DD, angrily denied a link between the "Yes on DD" and "No on EE" campaigns in a written statement distributed last weekend.