Dear AOA:
Please let your readers know that I recently purchased 30 of the Kidde Smoke Alarm – Model i12010S and they are continually chirping after installation. The instructions indicate a low battery life?
I am returning them and putting the ones with a 9V battery back. Please start an information log for other property owners. If you hear any solution, please let me know. Thank you for your time, I love the AOA. Martin E.
LETTER SENT TO THE RICHMOND CITY COUNCIL:
Rent control doesn’t have a good track record. Too many communities end up with diminished housing quality, (i.e. slums) both for the tenant and the landlord.
Often, the cap on rent doesn’t allow the landlord to maintain the rental property, much less to upgrade it. The eviction protection for drug dealing and otherwise destructive renters (where fellow tenants complained to the landlord about them) are almost impossible to move out – never mind in a timely manner (60-90 days).
My husband and I are good landlords and treat our tenants the way we want to be treated. From December 2013 to February 2015, we spent over $20,000 for dual-glazed windows, a new roof, fixing sewer problems and one tenant moving out, among other items. Things happened all at the same time but we took care of them right away, all on a gross income of $2,000 per month.
I hope the Housing Administration can do at least as well for our tenants’ and our neighborhood’s sake as we have done for our tenants. We all live in a very nice community and would like to keep it that way.
Thank you for your attention and consideration. Stefanie S., AOA Member
Dear Mr. Faller:
As a lifelong Republican, I don’t like taxes any more than you do. That being said, I respectfully disagree with your position on several taxes you oppose.
Illness and death caused by smoking results in millions of dollars in health costs in California, plus of course, the social costs of unnecessary deaths. Any tax that makes it harder for teens to start smoking is far more beneficial than loss of income to a black market.
As a great-grandfather (and WWII Navy vet), I am concerned over the world I’m leaving to them. The “bag tax” is designed solely to reduce the environmental costs of plastic bags everywhere. To pay a dime for a paper bag that can be reused is possible for anyone, or a buck for a fabric bag is in reach for most.
Big Oil has had its way in California for probably 100 years, by buying off our legislature with campaign contributions. Let’s pass an oil severance tax while oil still lasts (it’ll run out some day) and reduce the gas tax at the pump accordingly.
I own 72 units (three buildings) and was just re-assessed on the 50% of the equity I paid the estate of my partner to buy him out. My father died of lung cancer from smoking. I smoked from age 16 to age 36 and went through the torments of trying to quit before finally succeeding. If cigarettes had been a dollar a pack, I could never have started. Sincerely, William S.