The Daily Cal calls twice for an end to Berkeley's crippling rent control laws. Bravo! A board that sees the normal interaction of Landlords looking for high rents and Renters looking for low rents as somehow immoral has clearly entered that placid pool where moralistic fables trump economic law. Outlawing 'Predatory Practices' is based on an Economic analysis that sees declining rent prices as a good and higher prices as a bad, and any attempt to add flexibility to that market as an attempt to raise prices. Mr. Wilson is dead on when he notes that attempts to stop rent flexibility is tantamount to saying students are too stupid to realize their own costs.

This change is being done in the name of students, believe it or not. Rent board member Paul Hogarth said, "Student tenants are the most vulnerable" to receiving free rent "because they have the highest turnover" and "don't know their rights." He is wrong on both counts. Students can understand a signing bonus—can't you? And high turnover students are precisely the tenants who want bonuses the most.

The Daily Cal calls for a wholesale revision of Berkeley's Rent Board system, which has been effectively captured by moralistic activists. Not likely! As incumbents in a generally low-outrage business, it'll prove nearly impossible to oust them at the ballot box. The City Council has proven far more interested in development and long-term resident questions then the needs of high-turnover students. Email This Post!