Public Comment

The Bernie-Endorsed, Progressive CALI Slate Will Be Your Voice on the Rent Board!

Igor Tregub
Friday September 30, 2016 - 10:49:00 AM
Here we are with Councilmember and progressive champion Max Anderson. Counterclockwise from bottom right - Christina Murphy, Councilmember Max Anderson, Alejandro Soto-Vigil, Leah Simon-Weisberg, and Igor Tregub
Marcia Poole
Here we are with Councilmember and progressive champion Max Anderson. Counterclockwise from bottom right - Christina Murphy, Councilmember Max Anderson, Alejandro Soto-Vigil, Leah Simon-Weisberg, and Igor Tregub

We are the pro-tenant, progressive Rent Stabilization Board slate of Christina Murphy, Alejandro Soto-Vigil, Leah Simon-Weisberg, and Igor Tregub (“CALI” for short). Our track record of success in our collective efforts to fight for Berkeley’s most vulnerable has earned us the endorsements of Senator Bernie Sanders, the Sierra Club, the Berkeley Tenants Union, theAlameda County Democratic Party, the Alameda County Labor Council, Councilmembers Jesse Arreguin, Kriss Worthington, and Max Anderson, and many others respected community leaders. 

All four of us believe that housing is a fundamental human right, and were elected as the pro-tenant slate by the 2016 Berkeley Tenants Convention. The convention had a record turnout, with nearly 400 diverse community members committed to protecting rent control and tenants’ rights. As we all know all too well, Berkeley is facing an unprecedented housing crisis that is pushing out our seniors, working families, differently abled, and low-income communities – communities that make up the Berkeley that we love. 

To help protect the Berkeley we love, the four of us will actively work to defend rent control and strengthen tenant protections. In the past few years, the City has been proposing the demolition of rent-controlled units, further decreasing current or potential residents’ options for affordable units in Berkeley. Some of these proposed demolitions have also come at the price of evicting tenants out of the property in order to make the building eligible for demolition. We will work with the City to find alternative measures to addressing the needs of the property owner and the building that does not have to result in the loss of affordable units, or the eviction of tenants, some of whom have lived there for decades. 

With the aging of Berkeley’s rent controlled housing stock, we need to make sure that these units are not only up to code, but also in safe and habitable living conditions for our residents. We are aware that there are some property owners in Berkeley who are low-income, and may find it difficult to finance repairs or improvements, but we are excited to work with tenants and property owners to ensure that their homes are in good shape. 

The Berkeley Rent Stabilization program offers a very unique service that many residents and property owners in California do not have. For that reason, it is extremely important that Berkeley residents be aware OF and take advantage of the various forms of education, programs, and services the Rent Board offers. We will work to expand and improve the current services [that the Rent Board offers], while paying particular attention to tenants and small landlords – two groups that make up an important part of the fabric of our Berkeley community. We seek to be your voice on the Rent Board!  

More information about us is available at www.berkeleyrentboard.org. We would be happy to answer any of your questions at CALISlate4RentBoard@gmail.com. 

To ensure that Berkeley is a place that we can all call home, please vote for the CALI Rent Board slate – Christina Murphy, Alejandro Soto-Vigil, Leah Simon-Weisberg, and Igor Tregub – on November 8!