By Gordon P. Gitlen, Esq.

I am pleased to announce that I have undertaken the duties and responsibilities of the office of President of ACTION as of November 2001. I want to thank Wesley Wellman for acting as the interim president until I could serve. I look forward to working with all of you to preserve and further property owners' rights in Santa Monica. I believe that if you purchase residential rental property, that you are a housing provider and should be congratulated for acquiring wealth and investing in real estate and our economy. The City of Santa Monica, however, believes that tenants' rights are superior to yours, the investor. This philosophical difference will cause conflict with every regulation and law that is the expression of the city's intent.

You may be curious as to what the new year will hold for ACTION and its members. The Board of Directors plans on continuing the monthly owner education meetings on the first Monday of every month. At the meetings, you will hear presentations by guest speakers, discussions of updates and changes in Santa Monica laws and regulations, changes in state law as it affects members, and current happenings around town. Door prizes and a raffle of a major appliance at each meeting is added incentive to attend. We want to increase our membership, so invite a friend.

In addition, this year, we also plan to have a repairman/contractor/ vendor referral service and, at every meeting, you will be able to submit the name of your preferred repairperson or vendor so that other members might gain the benefit of your experience and have more of a selection of advertisers to patronize. We also intend to increase the circulation and readership of our magazine.

The Board of Directors is actively planning fundraisers for this coming year. If we can raise funds, we can sponsor more events, lawsuits to protect your rights, and have the ability to serve your needs. Payment of dues is important, but not enough money is collected from dues alone if we are to accomplish our goals. When the City of Santa Monica passes a new law that takes away our rights, we must be there to protect our rights. At the meeting in January 2002, we will discuss Action's most recent lawsuit concerning Security Deposit interest.

Of course, change brings new opportunity and I am pleased to serve as President of ACTION. I welcome ideas from our members. Recently, ACTION took on the task, working with two of our members, of contacting owners of duplexes and triplexes explaining a pending threat of losing their exemptions and pulling them into rent control. ACTION rallied the forces, the city abandoned its intention, but we don't know if the issue will be raised again.

You should be aware that at the Santa Monica courthouse, there is also a significant change-taking place. For example, five Superior Court Judges are moving on. Judges Letteau, Finkle, Albrecht, Perez, and Rubin have all announced their retirement (except for Judge Lawrence Rubin, who is being elevated to the Court of Appeal). What this means is that our local courthouse will have five different judges filling the vacant courtrooms in the very near future.

Finally, there will not be a December Monthly Owner Education Meeting and instead, everyone is invited to celebrate the holiday season, and our good fortune at our annual holiday party on December 14th at the Gitlen Law Building, 2917 Santa Monica Blvd. Santa Monica, CA with the festivities to start at 5:30 p.m.

It truly is a time to look back on the events of the past year and look forward to the New Year. Let's celebrate that we have the freedom to belong to the only organization in Santa Monica solely dedicated to protecting property owners' rights.