To the Editor:
These comments are addressed to Mayor Smith and the City Council board members:
In the economy that we are in, how can you in good conscience think of making extreme changes to rent control guidelines? Under the premises that the owners can opt out, do you actually think there would be one left in? There are still a large number of people out of work, and the jobs being created are at such low rates. How could you think of giving the owners free reign to charge what they want? As I understand it, that is one of the reasons this ordinance was enacted 38 years ago – so people who couldn’t afford large rents were able to live without fear. There are so many people in Bayonne living under rent control because they have no choice, me being one of them!
I am a 56 year old single woman who has lived in the same apartment for 44 years. I’m not disabled or a senior citizen or qualify for assistance. However, I am on a fixed income. I am terrified that if your proposal goes through, the landlord would be able to raise the rent to a point where I couldn’t pay it and I’d be forced to leave the only home I know. Have you given any consideration to how many people this will seriously affect, or is it that the land owners have a louder voice?
I’d also like to know if you or anyone close to you lives in a rent control building? If not, then you need to look a little closer at the people this will affect. They are some of the same people who voted you into office.
MAUREEN NASON