By JEFF LIPTON and JOSEPH KELLARD
The City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve its resolution that proposes to increase penalties for offenders, after it tabled the item at its Jan. 6 meeting because they thought it required more discussion. The resolution states that a landlord who rents an illegal apartment could be subject to a maximum fine equivalent to two years' rent collected on the apartment and/or up to 15 days in jail. Already on the books is a punishment of up to a $1,000 fine per day per violation and a maximum 15 days in jail, or both.
“This would provide an additional tool toward enforcement,” said Corey Klein, the city's corporation counsel. “It doesn't delete anything, but it adds another option for the judge to impose.”
On Jan. 6. the council voted to table the measure by a 3-2 vote, with Thomas Sofield, Lenny Remo and Denise Tangney voting in favor of tabling it.
City Manager Charles Theofan is expected to send out letters warning landlords to “correct” their illegal apartments or face city enforcement efforts. The city may begin to enforce the crackdown by April 15.
“Illegals are a theft of service to our municipal services as well as to our school district,” said Councilwoman Tangney. “Very often illegals compromise the safety and quality of life of our community. I am not opposed to creating a tool which will help law enforcement address these important issues. I am concerned with the parameters of exemptions and the timing of implementation.” In light of the faltering economy, Tangney wondered if the new law would lead to more housing foreclosures, which would then affect the area's property values and commerce.
“If people are forced to exit, how will it affect my school taxes?” she said. “Right now hardworking taxpayers are assuming the burden of scoffers. That is wrong. The question is: How does government balance that burden with the very real possibility that life as we know it in Long Beach may change dramatically?”
Remo added that those who use city services should be paying for them. “We're not looking to put people out on the street, we're looking for people to pay for what they are using,” he said.
“This is just another tool for the judiciary to apply,” Remo said of the proposed increased penalties.
The current law meting out a $1,000 a day fine per violation is much harder to enforce since it involves constant visits by inspectors who may on occasion be denied access to the buildings, according to Remo.
“It requires a lot more work on a daily basis,” he added. Remo said the city should consider allowing some residents to apply for a special use permit, to be renewed every two years.
Remo said that landlords who turn their homes into illegal boarding houses should be the first targets of the city's crackdown, but he expressed concern for their financially-strapped tenants.
At Tuesdays meeting, Sofield said that the new law will allow room for hardship uses, such as senior waivers, as well as for mother-daughter dwellings, and that the law would be phased in gradually, with a focus on absentee landlords.
City officials said illegal rentals are not a problem only in the West End but throughout Long Beach and Theofan’s letter will go out to all property owners in the city. Sofield and Tangney agreed that the tone of Theofan’s letter to the community needs to be one of “persuasion and not intimidation,” and “be more explanatory than anything else.”
Officials said the letter will explain, in part, that they will go after landlords who have illegally converted a garage or basement in order to rent it out. This, they said, has made a tough parking situation even more unbearable.
The crackdown on illegals is being viewed by some as a first step toward improving the West End's parking problems. The city has also proposed establishing residential parking zones, issuing a maximum of two parking stickers per legal household, which would give residents the ability to park their cars on any residential street in the West End. But the plan has drawn criticism from several homeowners whose family members own more than two cars. Some West End shopkeepers also expressed dismay, fearing that they would lose business under the parking permit plan.
If the crackdown on illegals is successful, the sticker plan may not be needed, officials said.
The city will rely heavily on landlords taking the responsibility of correcting their own illegal apartments and their neighbors turning them in. The city said it will establish an e-mail address so residents can anonymously report illegal apartments. City inspectors will also go out to enforce the law.
Rick Hoffman, president of the West End Neighbors Association, said that he hopes the city develops a program that goes hard and fast after illegal renters, and stressed that concrete rules and regulations are required. But resident Al Symons said he did not feel that the city needed any additional penalties for offenders.
“We already have a law on the books, so I don't know why we need this,” he said. “I don't want to see cops coming down here knocking down doors, do you?”
At Tuesday’s meeting, Symons asked Sofield for assurance that the new law will be applied evenly throughout the city. “Don’t play favorites,” Symons told him.
Sofield gave his word that the law would be enforced fairly and amicably.
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
