Letter: We need rent control

Councilwomen Maureen Freschet and Diane Papan present rhetoric that, to me, disguises the idea that the city politicians will lose some control of finances and all power to control housing issues if the measure passes. Also, they write the hackneyed phrase, “it won’t produce more housing.”

Well, Q was not created to make more housing available. It was created to stop rent gouging on existing rentals. What’s more, every citizen I talk with has been opposed to the over-development of large real estate projects in our city, the promotion of which has been sanctified by the City Council and the Planning Commission. How much support is that for the wishes of existing residents! So why should any of us trust that they have our best interests at heart?

Furthermore, there is one sentence in the letter, like a slip of the tongue, in which they write: “The council and the Housing Task Force are deeply divided on the subject of rent control.”

Well, that is what voting yes on Q is all about — rent control — and we need it.

I say, forget all the rhetoric you read on posters; it’s all a smokescreen. In my estimation the behind the scenes scenario is “Keep the power in the hands of City Hall and those with real estate for profit.”

Beverly Kalinin

San Mateo