History, Transit Mall, Target and Tenant Harassment

March 16, 2001

Dear Editor,

(Regarding Frank Gruber's column: "Rites of Spring.")

As you seem to be in a historical mode, did you know that the first John Adams Jr. High was at Los Amigos. It was destroyed in the Long Beach earthquake. Rebuilt on the larger campus where it is now.

I only know this because my father in law went to Jr. High there and he told me. Lincoln used to be at the Madison site when my mother in law went there. Santa Monica Tech, now SMC, was at Virginia Park.

Before all the institutional memory is gone, someone should pull all these stories
together. You have a bully pulpit.

Joanne Leavitt
Santa Monica

March 14, 2001

Dear Editor,

(Re: "Officer Charged with Fraud Ran Side Business")

A little one sided and anti-law-enforcement.

Tim Brooks

March 14, 2001

Dear Editor,

(Re: Frank Gruber's column: "Return to Target, A Play in Many Acts")

I know that in journalism it is important to be dramatic to get people to sometimes read a column but it is also important to bring a "reality" of events to your audience also.

In your article, "Return to Target, A Play in Many Acts," you seem to be playing the most dramatic part... far more outlandish than any of the City Council members!

That is my say,

Diana Meier

March 13, 2001

Dear Editor,

In regards to Bruria Finkel's constant push for the Transit Mall, I have to bring a few points to matter here.

Bruria, wake up! We're not living in the old socialist commune in the hills of Oregon. Most cities, when they have a traffic problem as we have in Santa Monica now, those other cities try to find ways of widening their streets and increase traffic lanes, to move traffic rather than clog it. But only in the socialist Peoples Republic of Santa Monica, we reduce traffic lanes.

Get a life Bruria! If you want to live in a vehicle free city, get all your socialist friends together, sell your fancy little properties in Santa Monica that have appreciated in value and go north, my friend, and you can build any type of commune style city you want.

Chuck Allord
Santa Monica

March 12, 2001

Dear Editor

(Re: Target vote)

So..... where else can it go and let's make it happen. We can lament forever about the old Henshey's location, but time would be better spent finding another one that suits Target and the community.

Are there any property owners that have an appropriate site large enough with less road congestion?

Maggie Lunsky
a citizen who likes Target and open roads

March 9, 2001

Dear Editor,

We were surprised to read our landlord Deborah Kautzky's perceptions and accounts of being "harassed" by her tenants as reported by Jorge Casuso's article "Landlords Call Harassment Charges Unfounded, Divisive and Political" published in your March 6th issue.

Historically, it is quite common for perpetrators to view themselves as a victims. Our landlady makes many entirely false and grossly misleading statements. It would take too much of this Editor's time to refute all statements made, therefore we will address the main points.

Ms. Kautzky asserts that we are not only harassing her now, but that this was the case even before she moved onto the property. In fact before Ms. Kautzky bought the property on Grant Street Donna Jensen and I were told by both realtors how helpful and cooperative we had been.

Donna gave up her garage that she had for the last thirteen years. We both provided estoppel and a full disclosure statements about the property. Donna continued to water the lawn and take care of the garbage and other maintenance all before and during the escrow period. On several occasions we put our schedules on hold to accommodate Ms. Kautzky to help in the close of
escrow, not to delay it.

After Deborah and her roommate Jean Delonge moved in we gave them a gift basket welcoming them to their new home. We even offered to help them move furniture in. But Ms. Kautzky's behavior changed drastically after she got everything she wanted from us. She began the landlord process by adopting lax security measures on the property and refused to keep courtyard security lights on. When Ms. Jensen shared with Ms. Kautzky that she was a rape survivor and
afraid for her safety, Ms Kautzky told her she was being "paranoid."

Deborah went so far as to remove the doorknob of the tenants' laundry room door and switched it for one without a lock on it. We became genuinely concerned for our safety and so we provided her with a copy from the Crime Statistics Division of the Santa Monica Police department documenting crime in our neighborhood hoping our new landlord would maintain security measures on the property as they had been in the past.

We have enclosed a copy of this report for your office. The statistics for the year of 1999 show five rapes (reported) in a 7 block radius in our neighborhood's area, which is more than any other district listed. Regardless of this data, you would still logically hope that a landlord would have concern for their tenants' safety.
Unfortunately is not the case with Ms. Kautzky as she still refuses to turn on the courtyard lights that the previous landlord installed specifically for the tenants safety.

Regarding my 3 day eviction notice, my landlord falsely alleged in this notice that I was using my apartment as "an office." However in your article she states that I was using my unit as "storage space." The truth is that Ms. Kautzky took away my outdoor storage space just before she took these photographs. I had stored valuables in my apartment for a few days until procuring storage space at another facility. Building and Safety had inspected my apartment at Ms. Kautzky's insistence and found no evidence that it was being used either as an office or as storage space. Deborah was well aware of these conclusions when she slapped me with that 3-day eviction notice.

She also gave Donna a 3-day notice on her second cat "Charlie Bear" that Donna and Kenneth Ollenberger (previous Landlord) had rescued together in 1996. Charlie genuinely improved Ken's disposition in spite of his poor health. Donna has many pictures of Ken holding Charlie lovingly. This history of love was irrelevant in Ms. Kautzky's eyes when on the day she closed escrow she served Donna with her first, of two 3-day notices to swiftly usurp her home that she had lived in for 13 years.

After finding another home for Charlie, Donna was told by Mayor Michael Feinstein that the eviction law 1806 B should've protected her and allowed her to keep Charlie. Yet the law could only be tested by Donna going to court on an unlawful detainer risking not whether a judge would rule that she could or could not keep Charlie, but whether she could keep Charlie or lose her apartment.

Neither I nor Donna have ever harassed Ms.Kautzky. We have never peered in her windows or followed her around with a video camera as she alleges. We, however, have felt so harassed by Ms. Kautzky and her live in companion Jean Delonge, that we left our homes for two months. They have tried to viciously bully and intimidate us out of our homes. Ms. Kautzky has not only abused the legal process by basing 3 day eviction notices on entirely false allegations, she has also stalked, surveilled, and acted in an egregious retaliatory manner. It is ironic that Ms. Kautzky is now claiming "I don't have equal protection under the law."

Tenants are supposed to be protected by Santa Monica rent control laws as well as myself being additionally protected by the "Americans with Disabilities Act" which forbids harassment. Contrary to her lawyer Mr. Gitlin's assertion, there is plenty of evidence that Ms. Kautzky has harassed her tenants. The reason Mr. Radinsky needs abundant evidence is that he faces tough judges, many of whom have track records of ruling in favor of the landlords. If there wasn't any evidence of harassment why does Ms. Kautzky's file remain open and still under investigation with the City Attorney's office?

The City Attorney's office, Donna Jensen and I have requested that Deborah Kautzky enter mediation to resolve issues. She continues to refuse our ongoing invitations. Instead she chooses to litigate, which was recently referred to as being a "waste of time" in a column written by Rosario Perry in Action Apartment Association's magazine. The article suggests buying tenants out of their apartments rather than litigating. If Ms. Kautzky, Mr. Balter and other members of ACTION have their way, there will only be homogenized neighborhoods in Santa Monica, a Beverly Hills by the sea without all the diverse colors of this country's rainbow.

Ms. Kautzky and her roommate Jean Delonge are again invited by us to mediate and discuss our ongoing differences to try and resolve them. We are determined to stay in our homes on principle alone and demand they stop their malicious behavior. It's a travesty that people are losing their homes in Santa Monica to landlords who place profit before people. Thank you for allowing us to refute these statements in your column. We sincerely appreciate the chance to set the record straight.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Ingersoll and Donna Jensen
Santa Monica