European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 7, 1981, Darmstadt, Hesse                                New York times three is in Santa Monica real estate re Volt apartments Rise where single family houses once by Robert Lindsey new York times Bay City was a very Nice place people lived there and thought i could see the a acc Blue Bay and the Cliffs and the yacht Harbor and the quiet streets of houses old houses brooding under old Trees and new houses with Sharp Green lawns and wire fences and staked saplings set into the parking Way in front of Philip Raymond Chandlers fictional private who spoke these words in the lady in the would hardly recognize Santa the town he called Bay Row upon Row of apartment buildings line streets where houses once stood with saplings in their front Yards More than 80 percent of the residents Are renters and Marlowe would probably be puzzled by the political going son that Are shaking up Bay Santa Monica renters have revolted and have begun to take control of local government from property own the cites old guard says that radicals and socialists have moved into City while the politicians elected by the renters say that they Are merely bringing economic democracy to Santa it appears that Santa Monica is perhaps like no other City in the the political backlash of a housing Market that has placed Nom ownership out of the reach of Many members of the postwar baby Boom the average annual income in California is in Santa Monica it is close to the minimum Price for a House in Santa Monica is and you  want it a Good House starts at maybe these people cant afford mayor John Bambrick referring to the Middle income renters who make up four fifths of the cites if we dont attend to this Bambrick Well have a revolution on our pretty much like the russian Santa a suburb of los Angeles noted in the past for Beautiful quiet neighbourhoods of single family and political evolved into a Community consisting predominately of renters Over the past 25 As Southern California grew rapidly in the Many newcomers decided that they liked Santa Monica for its clean air and proximity to los Angeles homeowners discovered that real estate speculators were willing to pay Well for their to be razed As Sites for apartment and a compliant local government approved construction of thousands of the Santa Monica freeway opened in the Early providing a fast route to los Angeles and the towns desirability increased even property values kept rising and still More apartments went Many of the people attracted to Santa Monica by its beaches were Young College students who had participated in the Antiwar and counterculture movements of the they congregated in the Ocean Park a strip along the coast dominated by a decaying amuse ment Park and rundown rental for the most they took Little interest in local government until letting the 20 percent of residents who were homeowners and apartment House owners run the but that two events provided a stimulus for rent ers to organize proposition californian property tax limitation was but few landlords passed on their sizable tax savings to tenants some raised and there was an epidemic of conversions of apartment buildings to condominium a group of renters organized an initiative Effort to impose a City rent control it was but in april they tried again and won passage of one of the most restrictive rent control Laws in the once the made up mostly of Young professional couples and retired began to win local elections that placed rent control activists in three of the seven seats on the Santa Monica City Tom the Antiwar who lives in a mod est Home with his Jane is the spiritual Leader of the rent control he formed an organization called the Campaign for economic democracy As a political base from which to run for the Senate from California he lost in 1976 but plans to run again in Hayden has had Little Success in expanding the group beyond a relatively Small band of but he has effectively exploited the High rental rates and Low rates of apartment vacancies in several communities besides Santa Monica to win passage of rent control depending on whom one is talking the new involve ment of tenants in local government has been a disaster or Justice due an unrepresented Perry a City Council member and former City contends that rent control unjustly deprives landlords of income they need to Cope with of rent he says wryly i dont think it does any Good for a City to distribute property rights by popular i suspect the decade of the eighties will be one the people of Santa Monica will want to Ruth Yannatta one of the Council who emigrated from new York in sees things differently until april there was not one renter or Liberal Democrat on the City Council the renters were now renters have a stake in the Community that they never had and the level of neighbourhood participation in Street has gone old timers in City government Are enthusiastic about a shopping Center that recently opened downtown and about a plan to redevelop a decaying stretch of Santa Monica main Street near Ocean Park into a neighbor Hood of antique stores and but the new leaders have deplored the projects As spoiling a liveable r Iti said Richard a reporter for the Santa Monica the radicals have become Theroi Serva Tives they favor the status so despite some fears of a the tenant activists have not had much Impact beyond the passage of rent and it remains to be seen whether the movement is broader than that single Feur Council seats Are scheduled to be filled next and Many people expect candidates who favor rent control to win at least to give them a majority on the City in the mayor Bambrick you would have to throw a hand grenade in those apartment complexes to get people to vote its not that Way people Are angry about their inability to buy a he and rent control has provided a Way to fight  follow a Liberator like Tom Hayden just to get new York times7 Page 14 the stars and stripes new Yolk Ernei Daviu us political backlash in a housing Market for puts Home buying out of january 1981 of a grim Economy new York times rather without any trumpets or the French government has performed an act of economic bravery that few other govern ments of Industrial countries dare months in Advance of next aprils presidential it has publicly warned that the like most of the rest of the Industrial is entering a dark Tunnel of Low growth and High and it cannot even glimpse the proverbial Light at the other this warning makes up the Central theme of Frances eighth five year National published last month and called a major turning Point in development of the eco nomic planning France has practice since world War the opening sentence in the big Blue Book detail ing the plan bluntly sums up the country economic future for the first time in a most French people think the coming years will be harder than the last they Are for the first since the late Charles de Gaulle called economic planning Frances ardent objective after world War the new National plan sets no economic growth objective for the the International uncertainties Are too great there is no longer a most probable future said Michel the Sharp minded Technocrat who Heads the plan Ning which is tucked away in a House in the Shadow of the Church of Clothilde on Pariss left the authors of the eighth plan say economic Advance is coming to a halt around the world because All coun tries have become prisoners of their the Shock of rising Energy prices and the loss of their technological leadership have left France and other developed countries with industries but no the developing world needs goods but does not have the Money to pay for and while the Oil exporting nations have they cannot lend it safely to those the eighth plans sober message is known to coincide with prime minister Raymond Barres own economic Barre tells visitors that he fears steadily rising Energy prices and ingrained inflation will condemn the Industrial nations to a decade of Low economic with rates of expansion unlikely to exceed 2 to 3 percent on or Well below the Levels needed to reduce at the other end of a similarly pessimistic View of the future is gaining ground at the Organiza Tion for economic cooperation and senior economists there paint a Bleak future a meaningful recovery is unlikely As Long As inflationary expectations and the huge weight of the Oil Price Burden Domi Nate the global these staff economists Are becoming by the refusal of Emile Van the Secretary general of the to Tell of their gloomy vision of the future in but Van Lennep is not a Man to get on the wrong Side of his organizations Industrial and the faintly encouraging picture he likes to paint of the worlds eco nomic prospects these Recd sources reflects the fact that governments do not want to hear any More bad the French government is the but even it has not been Able to avoid the political backlash that always threatens bearers of unpleasant Many of the governments own supporters Are already alarmed by the eighth plans apparently fatalistic acceptance of another five years of High their suspicion that the planners and the government believe there is nothing they can do about it was strengthened when be canard a witty Paris weekly newspaper that stresses recently published a confidential letter from the planning commissions Albert to the prime minister that called increased unemployment a certainty and not just a As the plan seems to Albert and his Young staff say that economic planning is More necessary now that Prosperity has come to in the he Frances economic plans were bearers of Good every five the planners bring together representatives of Trade government civil servants and other interested parties in a series of com each dealing with a particular sector of the they would Hammer out an agreement on what they must All do to achieve Good growth in their the resulting plan was then endorsed by the National becoming a kind of collective commit ment by the country major economic participants to achieve a certain rate of the Early French plans were All setting High rates of economic growth that were achieved or the first Oil Price Shock in late 1973 blew the system off and the growth targets set by the sixth and seventh plans were not in the eighth the economists have changed their instead of securing a consensus in favor of they Are trying to achieve one on the kind of Lon term economic changes and improvements needed to make recovery while the ambitious seventh plan set out 25 National priorities in the Pursuit of High the austere eighth plan lists Only the most important Are designed to develop competitive they include a general agreement on the need to divert scarce government resources to Foster in vestment through business tax increased Aid for scientific research and modernization of the still inefficient agricultural sector the stars and stripes Page 15