Eugene weekly., April 13, 2023, Page 4, Image 4

letters
CHECK THOSE RENTAL
STATISTICS
­
2022
4
A P R I L
1 3 ,
2 0 2 3
Whenever a landlord like Deborah
Strochlic (Letters, April 6) claims to
know what is best for renters, we should
question what they're saying. You don't
get the truth from people who are mak-
ing money off you.
Strochlic wrote that Portland's 2017
renter protection ordinances “resulted
in private landlords’ selling off their
properties, and meant 13 percent fewer
available rentals.”
Landlords are apparently basing this
on a March 25, 2022, ECONorthwest
report (bit.ly/43k3jH5) that says “The
number of single family detached rental
units in the City of Portland declined
from 27,656 units in 2017 to 23,669 in
2020, a loss of 3,987 units.”
That's single-family home rentals,
not apartments, and I don't see any-
thing in the report that proves the re-
duction was due to renter protections.
Since houses have escalated in value,
perhaps landlords are simply cashing
out. If you're trying to buy a house, this
would be an advantage.
A 2019 SVN | Bluestone report (bit.
ly/3ZSDwTJ) says, “The Portland apart-
ment market added about 5,700 new
market-rate units in 2018, a 20 percent
increase over 2017 when about 4,800
units delivered.”
So fewer single-family home rentals,
more apartments, for a net gain.
The Eugene City Council will again
discuss renter protections phase 2 at a
work session in April. I really wish Eugene
Weekly would cover renter protections in
some depth as a news story. Renters are
52 percent of Eugene residents, and we
deserve better information.
Lynn Porter
Eugene
YES, THERE ARE
GOOD LANDLORDS
As Eugene resident Deborah Stro-
chlic wrote recently (Letters, April 6),
the Eugene City Council will soon vote
on new regulations that will drastically
aff ect Eugene’s housing supply. Similar
laws passed in Portland resulted in many
landlords selling off their properties, and
Portland now has fewer available rentals.
When you are not a perfect applicant,
there are fewer rentals available, and
it’s harder to fi nd a nice place to rent.
Almost all of the many landlords I know
personally are women who rent to peo-
ple with red fl ags, questionable credit,
etc. These are the kind of landlords who
fi x things as soon as they break, or allow
a down-on-their-luck tenant to pay their
cleaning deposit in monthly payments.
I have even seen some who have helped
homeless refugee families.
No one trusts or listens to landlords,
because it’s easier and more fashion-
able to dismiss them as mean or greedy.
But I’m telling you, these are the con-
scientious landlords that are going to be
selling properties if these new regula-
tions pass. It will just be too much work
— as well as too much liability — to do so.
Much to the detriment of our hous-
ing situation, which is already bad, Eu-
gene could go the way of Portland.
If you’re concerned that these new
measures are likely to reduce rental
availability, please call the mayor’s of-
fi ce and share your concerns.
Cynthia Orlando
Springfi eld
NO LAUGHING MATTER
In its April’s Fool Day issue (March
30), the editors of the Weekly spoofed
the Eugene 4J school board in “A School
Board Odyssey,” where students re-
place ousted board members with Chat-
bot artifi cial intelligence software “to
take over the district’s governing body,”
implying that the entire board needs re-
placement to end the “squabbling.”
Of course, this is foolishness. Anyone
who attends or Zoom-watches school
board meetings knows that the dis-
cord and animosity is not caused by all
seven board members, but is caused by
one board member, the same one who
has launched charges of mistreatment
against all other members of the board,
the current and previous superinten-
dents — and Eugene Weekly itself.
Watch this six-minute recording clip
from the end of the Nov. 16, 2022 board
meeting to see the disruption, and how
the other members try to deal with it: You-
Tube.com/watch?v=RJLN09inXe8. Start
at 2 hours, 56 minutes, and watch till the
end at 3 hours, 2 minutes. It is painful to
watch, but it reveals what is going on.
School board elections are next
month; inform yourself before you be-
lieve any more tomfoolery.
Roscoe Caron
Eugene
Editor’s note: School board member Laural
O'Rourke has also criticized Caron and Community
Alliance for Public Education, an organization of
which he is a member.
A WNBA TEAM FOR
ALL OF OREGON
As a proud Oregonian, I’m excited
about the prospect of a WNBA franchise
coming to our state. I want to give a big
shout-out to those who are working hard
to make it happen, including Kelly Graves,
the coach of Oregon's NCAA women's bas-
ketball team, and our U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden.
I think it’s great that we could be getting
a team, but I'd like to suggest a few tweaks
to make it even better. First, I think the
team should be branded as “Oregon” rath-
er than just “Portland.” That way, we can
represent the entire state and give a nod to
the many great communities throughout.
Second, I think it would be awesome
if the team played a few games each year
at the Matthew Knight Arena in Eugene.
That way, we can showcase the talent of
female athletes from all over the state
and give fans in other cities a chance to
catch a game without having to make
the trek up to Portland.
Overall, I'm thrilled about the pros-
pect of a WNBA team in Oregon, and I
E U G E N E W E E K LY . C O M