Measure V! 

Editor:

I noted with interest Ryan Sundberg's comments opposing Measure V because he thinks it wouldn't be fair to the new owners of a mobile home park if they couldn't impose unlimited rent increases. Sundberg chose to represent the 42 park owners instead of 1,500 families in Humboldt. It is especially interesting that his example is of a park owner that doesn't even live in Humboldt. 

Frequently I hear that park residents should have done their due diligence before purchasing a manufactured home. May I suggest that the multi-million-dollar park owners outside of Humboldt should have done their due diligence? Did they not know that poor people can only give so much before their only recourse is to stand up and say, "Enough!"

Or perhaps they didn't know that Humboldt people still have empathy and care what happens to others. This is why I love Humboldt.

Patti Rose, McKinleyville

Editor:

Measure V on the November ballot is important not just as a sensible consideration, but also as a moral issue. It seeks to limit the amount of increase in rents for mobile home spaces. There comes a point, even in capitalism, where a distinction must be made between profit and excess. In a time where excess is frequently extolled as the epitome of success, it is imperative to remember that excess is what is destroying our society (viz; CEO pay packages of $30 million a year).

Local owners have come before the BOS and city councils and noted that they have, for years, limited their rental increases to something around 3 to 5 percent a year, whereas corporations frequently increase rents 15 percent or more. The fact that corporations are buying mobile home parks, even in areas with rent stabilization measures in place, indicates that they know there is ample profit to be made.

Larry Hourany, McKinleyville