Dear Randy: Why No $100 Rent Support?

You can call up, send emails all over, and reach out in many directions in looking for an answer to a local problem or help with an issue- or we can get that question right to Mayor Randy Voepel, and he can use his resources and local government know-how to get the best answer around.

Send your questions or comments on any topic, preferably a local issue, to steven.bartholow@patch.com, or leave it as a comment below, and we'll pass it onto Mayor Voepel. He's agreed to shoot for answering one a week, so let's keep those questions coming!

Q. Dear Mayor Randy Voepel,

I read with dismay the decision made by the City Council regarding the by the City of Santee, due to . I understand it must have been a difficult decision.

However, I must respectfully request that you take another look at the decision to to those residents in mobile home parks throughout Santee.

Many of the residents’ sole source of income is Social Security (which, as I understand it, is usually a little more than $1,200 month). Many of the parks’ space rents can range from $550 to well over $1,300 a month.

From the City’s website, it states that the Santee Manufactured Home Fair Practices Commission seeks to .

Without the $100 month City Assistance, there will be nothing to stem the parks’ increasing space rents under the guise of “improvements,” “upgrades,” etc. If these amenities that are being improved or upgraded are those offered as part of the entire Park to begin with, residents should not be expected to pay for the Park’s normal “wear and tear” repairs.

Due to the ongoing lawsuits involving Equity Life Styles (its latest incarnation), It’s safe to say that that particular Park would not be amenable to any case-by-case requests by residents for reduction of rent or any other assistance.
I do not doubt for a minute that the choices made by the Council were hard choices to make.

However, my point in writing is simply putting a face on the  decision to cease the rental assistance to mobile home residents. These are real people, and there are and will be very real consequences. It is a very scary time for residents of the different parks.

Again, I would sincerely appreciate if the could re-visit this issue.

Thank you,

Lynne

A. Lynne,

The City of Santee did not eliminate the $100 a month supplemental support for low income residents, the State of California did.

When the and the State took over that tax base, it . That is real money that .

The has gone from a well run, City, to a City that has been financially gutted by the greedy politicians in Sacramento. The City of Santee has or eliminated 26 employees and out of 148 total employees in the last three years. We have terminated 18 percent of our City workers, they were all loyal, well trained and bright.

I believe that California is bankrupt and I fear the Federal Government will soon follow. I anticipate that we will find out how much the State and Feds have lied to us after the next in November, no matter who is elected President.

I have always supported and was the one responsible for raising the rent subsidy from $75 to $100 a month when we had the low income money.

You are right that the decision to end the $100 subsidies was heartbreaking but it was a decision made by and the Legislature in Sacramento. Unfortunately, California has exactly the type of Government that the majority of voters want, you are seeing the real world results right now. I am very sorry for these cuts, we have no choice because as soon as we balance our budget, the State of California figures out other ways to rob the local Governments.

Please forgive me if I sound bitter, but it is very tough having to tell people things that they don't want to hear. I believe that in the coming years things will be much worst, not better. I, and the City of Santee are in survival mode.

Respectfully,

Mayor, City of Santee

Reply:

Thank you so very much for your reply.

If I implied that the City of Santee was the one who eliminated the support
for low income mobilehome residents, I didn't mean a unilateral choice by
the City of Santee alone. I do know that it was a result of the end of
redevelopment agencies.

I know that many communities, not just Santee, have had made to decide to
lay off good people and make hellacious choices. I do believe you're right
in that people think that continued cuts will solve all of our woes. Two
things wrong with that: you don't cut services on the backs of the most
vulnerable of our population, i.e. mental ill, children, elderly, etc. and
one cannot expect big-ticket items to continue to be funded (defense (!),
tax cuts for the wealthy, etc.) without sources of revenue coming in. Seems
pretty basic to me! I agree: both California  and the US are or soon will be
bankrupt. But again, you can't function just by cutting services and doing
nothing to create a source of income.

It is very sad in so many ways.

Please do not worry on my account about saying things people don't want to
hear. It's about time people woke up and wised up. My personal opinion: the
greatest cause of all the problems in this country, at federal and state
level, is the level of bi-partisanship. The lack of civility, the vitriol,
the viciousness, the general meanness of spirit, and the general ugliness is
something that distresses me more than you will ever know.

-Lynne

Updated: Reply added April 3  @ 11 a.m.