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Seen a Rogue on
the loose?
Local real-estate broker Penelope Tolva is this week's Rogue for being misleading and careless. Tolva specializes in the sale of apartment buildings, so she and her associates have reason to be wary of a city ordinance, proposed by Commissioner Gretchen Kafoury, aimed at preserving low-income rental units. She used the current issue of The Tolva Report, her newsletter to apartment owners, buyers and investors, to warn of the dangers of the proposal. A front-page item, titled "This Affects You," states that under Kafoury's plan: "* When an owner wants to sell a rental property they must give the city 90 days first right of refusal. * If you refuse to sell to the city for any reason you must pay $30,000 per unit to a city fund. * Owners of some properties must maintain certain units as low income housing for 60 (sixty) years. This is to be enforced through deed restrictions." Not surprisingly, Tolva's newsletter readers (which she claims number 9,000) were alarmed and, as directed, called Kafoury aide Sam Chase at 823-3101. We don't have any problem with citizen action. But Tolva's call to arms had two huge flaws. First, she got Chase's number wrong (it's 823-3031). The number printed is that of Phillis Pace, a city treasury worker who got so many calls she had to unplug her phone. Second, and more importantly, the description of Kafoury's proposal leaves out some very important facts. The first two sentences in Tolva's newsletter imply that the ordinance would affect all rental-property owners. In fact, it only would apply to 87 buildings with federally subsidized units. Chase said that of the 100 frantic callers he's talked to, none would be affected by the ordinance. "I literally just got off the phone with a little old lady who thought she was going to lose her house," he said Monday. Similarly, the last sentence does not explain that the 60-year low-income-housing enforcement would be imposed only on owners who agreed to it. Stan McCain, one of Tolva's associates, wrote the text for the newsletter. He says he understands that the ordinance would only apply to a fraction of Portland's rental units but believes all apartment owners are affected any time "the city takes private property." That may be a valid point, but it's not the one made in Tolva's alarming newsletter.
Originally published September 2, 1998 |
