Oakland's Great Condo-Conversion Con

by Lynda Carson, 2007-09-18

Oakland's great condo-conversion con-game is back in full swing, and it's backers have the full weight of Councilman Ignacio de La Fuente and Oakland City Hall to back up their confidence scheme, meant to swindle millions from an unsuspecting gullible public.

Having failed last December to convince enough councilmembers to shred Oakland's condo-conversion protections, its backers had the aganda item pulled from the floor before a vote could take place, and the proposal was sent to a Blue Ribbon Commission in hope of conning the public into believing that weakening condo-conversion protections would be good for the working class citizens of Oakland.

The attempt to weaken Oakland's condo-conversion laws is back, and on Tuesday Sept.18, Agenda Item S-28 (Inclusionary Housing Report/Condominium Conversion Ordinance Revisions) goes before the full city council in an effort to shred Oakland's more than 20 year old condo-conversion protections. The proposal would prop up the sagging condominium sales industry which has fallen flat on its face during the past year due to over-inflated condominium prices, and record-breaking home foreclosures occurring throughout California and across the nation.

Having priced themselves out of the market with their over-priced and over-valued condominiums which most people can no longer afford, local developers and loan sharks are trying to gain access to Oakland's rental housing market in order to launch the great con-game meant to convince a gullible public that a new coat of paint and some new carpeting can turn an old apartment into a new condominium.

The con-men involved in this scheme are trying to corrupt Oakland's city councilmembers in an effort to persuade them into weakening Oakland's condo-conversion protections and allow up to 800 conversions per year. This effort is spearheaded by Greg McConnell of the McConnell Group, who is notorious for masterminding the Costa Hawkins law which has resulted in the displacement of millions throughout the state of California since its inception.

During 2006, around 400 condo-conversions took place in Oakland -- displacing hundreds in the process, and to halt the displacement of its citizens San Francisco restricts condo-conversions to 200 per year, and Berkeley restricts their condo-conversions to 100 per year.

As recently as September 14, Greg McConnell was on KPFA's Morning Show and he tried to con the Northern California listening audience into believing that weakening Oakland's condo-conversion protections would not result in renters being displaced from their housing. It's highly unlikely that McConnell does not know that the protections were originally put into place because thousands of Oakland renters were being displaced during the seventies/eighties from the lack of condo-conversion protections.

McConnell has firmly established that he is not credible when making such statements as he pretends to represent Oakland's firefighters & teachers. McConnell is on record as representing the BIG DEVELOPERS in the push to weaken Oakland's condo-conversion protections, not the working class.

It was Greg McConnell and his group called the Better Housing Coalition that mailed out tens of thousands of glossy mailers last December right before the last vote was about to take place, and many Oaklanders were outraged because the phony mailers fraudulently appeared to be coming from Oakland city councilmembers who falsely appeared in the mailers to be asking their constituents to back them on the proposals to weaken of Oakland's condo-conversion protections.

In addition, further evidence shows that during the past year rent hikes in Santa Clara County shot up an average 10.4 percent after the recent glut of condo-conversions resulted in the rental housing market being undersupplied in their communities, and Oakland renters already know what is in store for them if the weakening of its condo-conversion protections take place here.

The weakening of Oakland's condo-conversion protections will result in the loss and displacement of thousands of families if it is enacted upon, and according to one of Mayor Dellums Community Task Force reports, Oakland needs to strengthen its condo-conversion protections and restrict conversions to around 100 per year in an effort to stop any net loss of rental housing units throughout the city of Oakland.

The Great Con

No amount of paint or new carpeting can ever convert an old apartment into a new condominium, especially when considering that apartments have been built under much lower standards than new condominiums have. Most apartments in Oakland are in very old buildings and many have been owned and operated by slumlords who have not had their buildings seismically retrofitted for protection against earthquakes, and have not properly maintained their buildings through the years.

In fact, apartments do not even come close to meeting the normal condominium building standards in regards to the quality of overall construction, including the thickness of walls and the materials used for sound muffling of walls, floors and ceilings as in real condominiums. The plain fact is that an apartment does not meet the standards of a condominium, no matter what Oakland's officials and city councilmembers would want you to believe in their haste to shred Oakland's condo-conversion protections on behalf of Greg McConnell and the greedy landlords and developers which he represents.

Regardless of one's politics, the shameless attempts by city officials trying to promote a swindle of this magnitude upon an unsuspecting gullible public is breathtaking in the annals of Oakland's dark, brutal, corrupt and unflattering history.

Oakland, A Working Class City

It is fundamentally wrong for city officials to pretend that they are promoting the weakening of Oakland's condo-conversion protections as a means to offer affordable homes to Oaklanders. This whole scheme has been cooked up by large developers, realtors, landlords, loan sharks and their stooges who want to make a huge profit on those who are desperate enough to be conned into believing that they are actually buying a condominium. It is not something being promoted or asked for by a grassroots citizens group of renters that want to go into great debt by buying one of Oakland's run down apartments masquerading as a condominium.

Being a working class city, around sixty percent of Oakland's residents are renters with a median household income between $35,000 and $40,000 annually, which means that they cannot afford the proposed condo-conversions that will average around $375,000 per unit, and would cost the victims around $2,500 to $3,000 per month to pay off the mortgage.

The weakening of Oakland's condo-conversion protections would result in the displacement of thousands of families and would drive up the cost of rental units to astronomical levels which would again end up displacing even many more thousands of Oakland renters from their housing and communities. Experience in Santa Clara County and other communities around the nation show that the effects of weakening condo-conversion protections have driven up the rents in surrounding communities, as it would do so here in the East Bay if the swindlers have it their way.

Housing activists are urging Oakland renters to immediately contact their councilmembers to demand that they should strengthen Oakland's condo-conversion protections, and not weaken them.

The condo-conversion issue goes before the Oakland City Council at 6pm on Tuesday September 18, as Agenda Item S-28, and is called the Inclusionary Housing Report/Condominium-Conversion Ordinance Revisions. (Broadway and 14th St., near 12th St. Bart Station downtown Oakland)

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule@yahoo.com