For some, landmark Prop. 13 is another reason for rent control
As passions increase surrounding two highly controversial rent control proposals on the Nov. 8 ballot in Burlingame and San Mateo, a popular misconception continues to be promoted, albeit as a peripheral point of contention in the preelection mix.
Specifically, some of those arguing in favor of placing draconian limits on the rights of landlords in those neighboring communities bemoan what they perceive to be a gross injustice inherent in some of the aspects of Proposition 13, the landmark 1978 voter initiative that put a stop to runaway property tax hikes in California.
Their position goes like this: Prop. 13 is unfair to new home/apartment-buyers because their properties are taxed at current market values while owners of homes, condos, etc. as of 1976 (when values were frozen for propertyowners at that time) are not.
The implication is that those recent buyers receive very limited or no benefit from Prop. 13. Not true.
The law is designed to limit the annual increase in a property’s assessed value to 2 percent.
So, once a buyer purchases a dwelling (the first-year tax is limited to 1 percent of the purchase price), no matter when, Prop. 13’s regular 2 percent mandate kicks in.
The sooner you buy, the more valuable the benefit becomes as the years and decades roll on. And, when one of those properties is finally sold again, its assessed value rises to its current actual selling price — and that includes those homes, condos, etc. that benefited from the original landmark freeze of 40 years ago.
Listening to the debate swirling around the two ballot measures in question, there is a distinct feeling that some of their backers simply regard property-owners, especially those who have been here for decades and thus benefit more from Prop. 13, as greedy, selfish opportunists.
These are people whose economic good fortune and fortuitous timing need to be punished by government via the ballot box to benefit vulnerable renters and, in some misguided way, to provide a form of necessary retribution for those favored by Prop.13, among other supposed inequities of life along the Peninsula and in California generally. It’s class warfare writ large.
In other words, it’s payback time.
David Keyston dies
David Keyston passed away last week at the age of 91. That name might not ring a familiar bell for many residents of the Peninsula today. Fifty years ago, that was certainly not the case.
David and his brother, George, along with their investors in the Anza Pacific Corp., pulled off one of the last major bayfront developments here.
They did so by draining and filling more than 150 acres of tidelands north of Coyote Point to create what is now home to office buildings, hotels, SFO parking facilities and other amenities.
The Anza Lagoon in Burlingame is part of that complex, located just east of Highway 101. Huge chunks of the old San Mateo Bridge’s concrete roadbed were used as foundation pieces for some of the levees in that area.
By the early 1970s, there was a considerable outcry about the ongoing work. Environmentalists and some state officials were not pleased. They tried to force a halt to the construction.
In spite of legal challenges to their project, the Keystons managed to get much of their overall plan accomplished, providing jobs and tax revenue in the process.
It is highly doubtful that the Keystons’ vision, which originated with their father, financier George Keyston Sr., in the 1950s, could be implemented now. The days of draining and filling in major portions of untouched San Francisco Bay tidelands are long-gone.
Previously diked marshland like the Redwood City Saltworks and its more than 1,400 drained acres targeted for development is another story altogether.
Galli’s to close
An iconic commercial outlet on Grand Avenue in South San Francisco is shutting down after being in business for more than a century. Galli’s Sanitary Bakery is scheduled to close sometime next month. It’s been in operation in that North County town since 1909.
John Horgan’s column appears weekly. You can contact him by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com.or by regular mail at P.O. Box 117083, Burlingame, CA 94011.