Dallas-Fort Worth Real Estate Investor Club

More Than 700 Signatures on Texas Rent Petition

  • 05 Sep 2012 4:38 AM
    Quote
    Message # 1064832
    Deleted user
    Digested From "More Than 700 Signatures on Rent Petition"
    Odessa American Online (08/29/12) by Lyxan Toledanes

    Just one week after "Nicole" went public with her petition to stabilize rent in Odessa, Texas, she has collected 776 signatures to help the cause. "We are getting about 100 signatures a day just by e-petition," said Speak UP Odessa organizer "Nicole," who is using a fake name to protect her from any potential retaliation. The group formed to convince Odessa City Council members to pass a rent stabilization ordinance to fight rising rents. The average monthly rent in Odessa was $810 in July, according to the Odessa Chamber of Commerce's 2012 Apartment Survey. Nicole has expanded her petition to include all Texas residents and wants to see action in the state legislature. She plans to present her petition to the Texas Attorney General's Office by the end of September. But critics say the approach goes against the free market system. "Rent control doesn't work," said David Mintz, vice president of government affairs at the Texas Apartment Association. "It's just like any other commodity, but the reality of it is you want a situation where owners are able to recover costs and able to put money back into the property."
  • 06 Sep 2012 12:48 AM
    Quote
    Reply # 1065615 on 1064832
    Robin Carriger (Administrator)
    The communists are among us.  Most of them will never call themselves communists, or socialists, or even liberals, but if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck...  In fact, I believe usage of the term, progressive, is already on the decline.  If we are passive in allowing things like this to continue to prevail in our country and in our government, the U. S. as we've known it will be lost.
  • 07 Sep 2012 12:00 AM
    Quote
    Reply # 1066422 on 1064832
    Deleted user

    Robin,

    I'm pretty sure it's already lost, but hopefully starting Nov. 6th we can make a u-turn and go back and find it!
  • 07 Sep 2012 8:10 AM
    Quote
    Reply # 1066657 on 1064832
    Jesus Galaviz
    Let me start by saying that I'm a landlord and I do not support rent control.  It is anti-free market.

    Bear in mind that many renters do not have solid economic educations and all they know is their bills are going up but the paycheck is not.  Odessa real estate prices and rents are going up right now due to oil & gas development, so this situation is probably a special case.  If someone wants to put a petition online, it's probably because that's an easy way to test the waters of public opinion.  It doesn't mean the person is a communist.  Communism goes way beyond rent control.  Extremism is rarely a solution.

    People are only flesh, and they are doing the best they can.  Cooler heads will prevail.
    Last modified: 07 Sep 2012 8:14 AM | Jesus Galaviz
  • 08 Sep 2012 12:44 AM
    Quote
    Reply # 1067227 on 1064832
    Robin Carriger (Administrator)

    You're probably right, Jesus, but so am I.  Just because someone doesn't know they're a communist doesn't mean they're not one.  Check out the definition of communism below, and then ponder who really owns/controls your property if the community (a. k. a. the government) passes a law that dictates what you can charge in rent.  You may feel that what I said is extreme, and, if you think of communists like Mao, Stalin, etc., I take your point.  I hope you take mine when I quote Barry Goldwater who said "Extemism in the defense of liberty is no vice."  I'm not comparing the lady in west Texas to Stalin, but I reaffirm that she is indeed promoting a communist/socialist cause.

    com·mu·nism

    noun
    1. a theory or system of social organization based on the holding of all property in common, actual ownership being ascribed to the community as a whole or to the state.
Powered by Wild Apricot Membership Software