This is the first of three essays discussing local politics and local government. Tomorrow I will discuss the takeover of the local Democratic Committee in my area and finish up on Saturday describing the successful implementation of green legislation in my community.
This essay answers the question: can you fight city hall? More excitingly, can a group with few resources expand their support base, help energize a moribund political party, kick out an entrenched opposition and pass progressive legislation? Yes it can.
I volunteered to write essays on local government with this thought uppermost in my mind: if I’ve been able to successfully engage at the local level, you can, too. I’m just an ordinary guy, but I’m competitive and have a keen sense of right and wrong and don’t mind at all throwing myself into the melee.
Words to live by:
Do not let yourselves be discouraged or embittered by the smallness of the success you are likely to achieve in trying to make life better. You certainly would not be able, in a single generation to create an earthly paradise. Who could expect that? But if you make life ever so little better you will have done splendidly, and your lives will have been worthwhile.
Arnold Toynbee
Eighty percent of success is showing up.
Woody Allen
For success, timing and ripe conditions count a lot, too.
It was 1981 and I was on my way to work when I noticed a flyer aloft in the breeze and spotted this word written in bold -- "EMERGENCY." I picked up the flyer and read the dire message for tenants like myself: "Emergency Meeting -- All Tenants – Town Board set to phase out rent control." (Note: All multi-dwelling buildings with more than 4 units were subject to rent control.) At the time I lived in a rent-controlled community in NJ about 5 minutes from the George Washington Bridge. I didn’t know that there was a local chapter of the NJ Tenant Organization in my community. But there was, and the local leader was doing his best to inform his fellow tenants about what awaited us: 9% rent increases for three straight years and then elimination of rent control via vacancy decontrol. (That is, when an apartment is vacated, rents are raised to what the market will bear. Unfortunately, the path to that market is sometimes paved with bad intentions. The landlord is incentivized to withhold services in an effort to get the tenant to leave in order to re-rent at a much higher amount.)
I attended the meeting and left with these tasks: Make sure everyone in your building knows about the proposal to amend the rent control ordinance, make calls, knock on doors, and turn out at the next town board meeting and raise your voice in protest. I worked more than my building and our intrepid band spread the word. We wondered and worried if the tenant turnout would be vocal and strong enough to fight the proposed amendments to the rent control ordinance. Well, knock me over with a feather. Turnout was so huge that the municipal board room couldn’t accommodate the crowd. Consequently, the ordinance was tabled and rescheduled for 2 weeks later at the middle school auditorium. We didn't like this and objected. The all Republican town board and mayor were hoping our energy would dissipate and the new date would give them the opportunity to organize their supporters. We lost that argument, the meeting was rescheduled.
This is a good point to discuss rent control. Our counter proposal was to allow for an annual rent increase of 4%, but most importantly we wanted the town board to codify in our local ordinance provisions that existed in the New Jersey Tenant Rights Legislation
No eviction without cause; apartments kept in habitable condition; and, a clear definition of capital improvements that made the distinction between an improvement and a repair. Capital improvements allowed an increase in rents where a repair should be done from current rent payments. We were also amenable to a rent increase above the 4% rate if the landlord could prove hardship, which required opening his/her books. We also wanted better representation on the rent control board. No in-house, lackey Republicans to rubber stamp decisions.
We knew one of the problems that we would face related to taxes. The Republicans would attempt to convince homeowners that limiting rents would result in lower real estate assessments for the multifamily dwelling buildings and shift the tax burden to the homeowner. This required convincing the homeowner that rental properties were assessed based on income and expense statements only rather than sales data. The truth was that it was a combination of both factors. The objective fact was that landlords were building multifamily dwellings on every piece of land they could find and from which approvals could be gained from the Planning Board and/or Zoning Board of Appeals. If so, it must be a profitable enterprise and resale value must be decent, if not spectacular. The local leader of the tenant organization made the counter arguments, I think sufficiently so to blunt their tax argument.
The two week wait finally came and our fears of a reduced tenant turnout were not, I am happy to report, realized. Several hundred tenants turned out. They were highly energized; we did our job getting the word out.
My speech was short, sweet and effective. I carried a big poster board to the microphone; I addressed the assemblage. "Ladies and gentlemen, members of the town board, I will present to you a very important statistic. How many other renters in Bergen County municipalities will experience a 27% rental increase over 3 years?" At his point I raised the poster board – I had written nothing on it, that is, no other renters would have to pay such a significant rent increase.
A huge response ensued, wild applause, jeering and cheering. "Treat us fairly." "No rent gouging." Etc., etc.
Our concerted action paid off, the rent legislation was tabled. We would have to stay vigilant, but we had won this battle. Could we win the war, that is, have a stronger rent ordinance adopted? Where did the out-of-office and completely shut-out local Democrats stand?
At the time I was a member of the local Democratic Committee, but my standing in the party was now enhanced by my tenant advocacy efforts. Shortly after the rally, I was approached about the viability of the tenant "movement." Would the tenant leadership support the Democratic candidates? Well, that depends, how willing are you to support the local NJTO’s counter ordinance? Let’s talk about the Democratic candidates’ commitment to passing a strong tenant ordinance. They were with us and to prove it, they gave me the opportunity to select a candidate. That sounded good. I convinced a former ally from the McGovern campaign to run and he would support an ordinance drafted by the local NJTO. He was approved by the Democratic screening committee.
The local town board consisted of 6 council members and a mayor. This year the mayor and two council seats were up for election. The big question was would the tenants -- low turnout voters in non-presidential elections –- come out for the Democrats in an off year election? Was our organizing strength real, or were we a paper tiger? One shot wonders? We could get the tenants to a meeting, could we get them to the polls?
We worked hard to get the Democratic candidates elected. Our hard work paid off, tenants turned out in droves. The Mayor and 2 council seats were carried by the Democrats. Now the council was controlled by the Republicans but with a slim one vote margin. We’d have to get that other vote(s) the next year.
By now my status in the local Democratic Party was sky high. For the next election cycle, I was the candidate that the Democrats wanted to run, and I agreed to run. My running mate agreed to support improvements to the tenant ordinance. We won that election, too. Both my running mate and I won. In two years we defeated 5 Republican candidates, mostly incumbents. We controlled the town board 4-2 and held the mayor’s seat. So, let’s pass that tenant ordinance.
Not so fast.
I couldn’t believe my ears when the mayor told me we would have to go slow, he was hearing from homeowners that too much was being done for the tenants, we should be happy with the fact that we’re staying with the status quo, no 27% rental increase over 3 years. I was not happy and when I reported back to the tenant organization my unhappiness was mild compared to their response. Here were people who had worked every multi-dwelling building door-to-door, who had handed out Democratic literature with promises to support improvements to the tenant ordinance. And they did it for 2 years with no let up, and now they were told to be happy with the status quo.
I argued with the mayor and my new Democratic colleagues that we should just get it done, the horror stories were only horror stories. We (the tenant leadership and I) kept the pressure up. Can you win an election without us? Eventually we prevailed. But something that could have been passed in the first 100 days (or less) dragged on for 7 months. Or, just before the next election. Didn’t matter, the Democrats won again; all those fears for naught.
The pressure got to the mayor, though. He quit. My friend from the McGovern campaign who was the Council leader became mayor. We had complete control of the council. The young Turks were in control. (We were in our early 30s.)
I’m happy to say that we did good things for the town besides pass a new tenant ordinance. The police department was a mess and we hired a new chief who began a reform agenda. In the process we hired the first female police officer in town. (If you win a council seat, don’t volunteer to be the liaison to the police department.) We revitalized what was left of the Community Development Block Grant Program. (It had been scaled back by Reagan but was virtually ignored by local Republicans.) Recycling efforts were improved; and, not to be sneered at, implemented major capital improvements to the municipal swimming pool.
Meanwhile, from what I know, the tenant ordinance that we passed stood the test of time. Nothing horrible happened to the homeowners. Tenants became emboldened to exercise their rights. (Most did, some tenants will always be afraid and won’t exercise their rights.) Some landlords, the abusive ones, were upset, but hey, you can’t make everyone happy.
Well, I hope his has inspired you to run for office. Love to hear if progressives in your area have clout and seats on the governing body.