Setting the Record Straight and New City Order

January 24, 2003

Dear Editor,

Here is a misquote from Oliver Lukacs' article ("Latino Family Evicted to Pave Way for Gentrification, Suit Charges," Jan. 24):

"We've seen this kind of behavior across the board, because landlords are greedy," said Michael Tarbet, a tenant organizer for SMRR. "In general, landlords just want money. They don't care how they get it."

At a minimum it was taken out of context, and I'd like it corrected or changed.

I responded to a question from your reporter about whether there was a lot of harassment based on discrimination in the community. The gist of my response was that most landlords that engage in harassing behavior do it because of greed, rather than because of the race or familial status of their tenants.

This is very different than the quote. The quote makes me sound like I think almost all landlords in the community harass their tenants for one reason or another, but mostly because of greed.

That is not my belief. I believe most landlords do not harass their tenants and obey the law. Some are very nice to their tenants.

However, there are a significant minority of landlords who do harass their tenants, and most of those do so because they would be able to get much more money from the next tenant than the current one. I believe suits like this will help reduce harassment in the community, whatever its
motive.

Michael Tarbet
Santa Monica

(Ed. note: The following lead-in to the quote has been added to the story: Asked if SMRR has seen this kind of behavior by landlords towards white tenants, Michael Tarbet, an organizer for the tenants' rights group, said…)

January 24, 2003

Dear Editor,

After reading the saga of the Vivanco family ("Latino Family Evicted to Pave Way for Gentrification, Suit Charges") I feel that there is only one conclusion in order to take care of the many problems the city of Santa Monica is facing:

1) All landlords should be arrested and their properties should be confiscated. This can be done in a day or two.

2) All the business people, starting with the hotels and restaurants and moving down to the other businesses, will have a commissar in their place of businesses in order to protect the public from the greedy business people.

3) The commissars will have other commissars looking over them so that the original commissars will not be corrupted or would be tempted to become greedy and take money which really belongs to "the people" of the new order.

4) Those of us who have "a" home in Santa Monica will be ordered to "share" our homes with those who have not, and the quota should be one room per family. In no time at all the population of Santa Monica would increase by 50 percent and the shortage of affordable homes will be a thing of the past.

5) Since God cannot be thanked for this wonderful new life, for God is not allowed to be involved with the work of "the State" (in our case the city-state of Santa Monica), we can have a "mail in" election to elect the Santa Monica god. But who can be worthy to be the god of Santa Monica? Well let me think...sorry, in this new world "thinking" is not allowed.

Maria Sirotti
Santa Monica