Two weeks after voters cast their ballots not to bring back Bayonne’s original rent-control protections, the two sides are still saying they were right.
On Nov. 4, Bayonne residents voted down the effort, 57 to 43 percent, to repeal vacancy decontrol and bring back the rent control that had existed in the city for decades.
Vacancy decontrol allows landlords to raise rents on rent-controlled apartments once a tenant moves out. The previous rent-control ordinance had stricter guidelines for landlords.
Ed Gilligan, head of the Bayonne Tenants Organization, said his grassroots effort to bring back traditional rent control failed because of a better-funded opposition campaign, as well as misleading information and scare tactics.
“The overlying issue is that they had a huge war chest,” Gilligan said following the election.
“We had nowhere near the budget to do that. It wasn’t an equal playing field.”
The “they” Gilligan referred to was the Bayonne Taxpayers for Fairness, an election-time entity supported by Liberty Board of Realtors in Secaucus. Taxpayers for Fairness sent out four letters in the month leading up to the election, which they said were informational pieces. The letters were dated Oct. 10, 17, 24, and 27.
Joseph Hottendorf, Liberty executive vice president, said the BTO effort was not successful because there are state statutes that already protect renters and that the city ordinance was duplicative. Hottendorf has contended that local rent control is therefore unnecessary.
Gilligan said another reason rent control lost was that many who support his cause did not take a stand and vote.
“Rent control scares investors away.” – Joseph Hottendorf
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“There was complacency among new tenants,” he said. “They thought they would be protected.”
Gilligan also said he thinks many tenants in rent-controlled buildings just wanted to avoid confrontation.
“They didn’t want trouble with their landlords,” Gilligan said.
Hottendorf said throughout the fall campaign that he did not know of one documented tenant complaint in the state alleging harassment by a landlord.
A third factor defeating his group’s referendum, according to Gilligan, was its wording.
“Probably the biggest reason we lost was the confusion on how to answer it correctly,” he said.
Gilligan contended that two people not connected with his movement filed suit to change the referendum’s wording late in the campaign.
Hottendorf said his side won for all the right reasons: good public information, a lack of duplication in laws, and the contribution to an updated housing stock.
He said that vacancy decontrol encourages landlords to make improvements on their properties, benefiting them, new tenants, and the city as a whole.
“Rent control scares investors away,” he said. “When investors walk into an office and want to talk about investing money, they want to call Bayonne a good investment.”
Another group that fought the repeal of vacancy decontrol was the Bayonne Residents for Taxpayer Fairness, which listed an Edison address. That group sent out a mailer that depicted scenes of vandalism, drug dealing, and burglary if rent control was reinstated.
Hottendorf said his group was not affiliated in any way with the Edison one.
Joseph Passantino may be reached at JoePass@hudsonreporter.com.