Goodbye Old Year, Good Riddance Page Mill Properties!

It has been nearly two years since Page Mill tenants and housing activists first approached the East Palo Alto City Council to ask for help as Page Mill Properties blatantly violated the city's rent stabilization ordinance. As 2009 comes to a close, tenants are still paying the illegal increases.

Yet there IS cause to celebrate the last year of this decade, said Re'Anita Burns who is active with Youth United for Community Action's housing campaign. In September of this year Wald Realty Advisors took over operations for Palo Alto-based Page Mill Properties' approximately 1,800 East Palo Alto rental units. The court ordered receivership became effective after Page Mill and its subsidiaries failed to make a $50 million balloon payment to Wells Fargo Bank in early August.

The East Palo Alto City Council is in the midst of discussing whether to accept a settlement proposal that would put to rest active lawsuits with the city's biggest landlord. The council has met in closed session twice in the past several weeks to discuss the situation but has yet to enter formal negotiations with Ward Realty, reports the Palo Alto Daily News.

As lawsuits move forward, tenants and youth are demanding that the city reach no settlement with Ward Realty until the rents are rolled back to levels that are consistent with the city's rent stabilization ordinance. Demonstrating in front of 5 Newell Ct., a Page Mill property, demonstrators raised cups of sparkling cider on the last day of 2009, saying "good riddance Page Mill" and sending a message to Ward Realty: "Roll back the rents!"