Stories of One: Politics and Real Estate

Stories of one that mean something or nothing:

Republicans flip seat in California House delegation: [bold added]

Nancy Pelosi and Rebecca, Mike, and Preston Garcia (Chron)

Mike Garcia was sworn in Tuesday as the first Republican to flip a Democratic-held congressional seat in California in more than 20 years. But for both parties, his election means far more than the single GOP vote he’ll bring to the House for the next six months.

For Democrats, Garcia’s surprisingly easy special election win last week over Assemblywoman Christy Smith, D-Santa Clarita (Los Angeles County), is an instant warning that November’s effort to hang onto the seven California congressional seats they grabbed from Republicans in 2018 will be anything but a cakewalk.

IMHO, the range of election outcomes is large. There are important known unknowns like infections and deaths from COVID-19, economic recovery, the mental and physical health of Joe Biden, and tensions with China. As for unknown unknowns, by definition we don't know what they are, but one or two will manifest, it's been that kind of year.

Devastated SoMa restaurant told to pay full rent starting in July. Its landlord? The city of SF [bold added]

Banana Blossom Salad

[Owner Thai] Van temporarily shuttered Green Papaya this month with the hopes of reopening whenever conventions come back to San Francisco — but he’s in a bind, as his landlord wants him to resume paying his normal $11,000 monthly rent payments July 1, even though he doesn’t expect it to be open and making money by then.

Van wouldn’t be so surprised if it weren’t for the identity of his landlord: the city of San Francisco, which also owns Moscone Center. Convention centers are in the state’s fourth and final phase of reopening, coinciding with the end of the stay-at-home order.

“How are they going to ask me to pay rent when they’re not allowing customers to come in? It’s like they want me to pay for a hotel room and tell me to stay outside,” he said.

I have first- and second-hand experience with the plight of landlords. Popular sympathies go to residential tenants who are out of work and commercial tenants whose businesses are closed.

But what about the landlords, most of whom don't have mortgages guaranteed by the Federal government? The banks do not have to give such landlords loan relief--which applies just to owner-occupied properties--while their non-paying tenants cannot be evicted. (Note: in residential real estate about half of the nation's 50 million residential units are owned by individual, i.e., "mom-and-pop" investors, not fat-cat corporations.)

The government has decreed that lease agreements can be violated without penalty by tenants. The good news for landlords is that the moratorium stops after May 31st or June 30th, depending on local law.

The City of San Francisco's hard-line approach against Green Papaya gives cover to landlords who want to restore the integrity of their executed leases.

However, we admit that we do feel a great deal of sympathy for Mr. Van, whose landlord did shut down his wherewithal to pay the rent.

[Update - 5/21] - the Power of One: After The Chronicle reported on Green Papaya’s predicament Wednesday, Mayor London Breed said in a tweet that the city was working on “relief efforts, including rent forgiveness” for small businesses like Van’s.