Publisher, Fran Zankowski Circulation Manager, Cal Winn EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief, Caitlin Rockett News Editor, Will Brendza Food Editor, John Lehndorff Contributing Writers: Dave Anderson, Emma Athena, Rob Brezsny, Michael J. Casey, Shay Castle, Angela K. Evans, Mark Fearer, Jodi Hausen, Karlie Huckels, Dave Kirby, Matt Maenpaa, Sara McCrea, Rico Moore, Adam Perry, Katie Rhodes, Dan Savage, Alan Sculley, Tom Winter SALES AND MARKETING Market Development Manager, Kellie Robinson Account Executives, Matthew Fischer, Carter Ferryman Mrs. Boulder Weekly, Mari Nevar PRODUCTION Art Director, Susan France Senior Graphic Designer, Mark Goodman CIRCULATION TEAM Sue Butcher, Ken Rott, Chris Bauer BUSINESS OFFICE Bookkeeper, Regina Campanella Founder/CEO, Stewart Sallo Editor-at-Large, Joel Dyer June 16, 2022 Volume XXIX, number 40 Cover photo, Melissa Leavenworth As Boulder County's only independently owned newspaper, Boulder Weekly is dedicated to illuminating truth, advancing justice and protecting the First Amendment through ethical, no-holds-barred journalism, and thought-provoking opinion writing. Free every Thursday since 1993, the Weekly also offers the county's most comprehensive arts and entertainment coverage. Read the print version, or visit boulderweekly.com. Boulder Weekly does not accept unsolicited editorial submissions. If you're interested in writing for the paper, please send queries to: editorial@boulderweekly.com. Any materials sent to Boulder Weekly become the property of the newspaper. 690 South Lashley Lane, Boulder, CO, 80305 p 303.494.5511 f 303.494.2585 editorial@boulderweekly.com www.boulderweekly.com Boulder Weekly is published every Thursday. No portion may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher. © 2022 Boulder Weekly, Inc., all rights reserved.
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Rent control rallies and 1980s tenant battles by Mark Fearer
T
he summer heat is not only breaking records (thank you, climate crisis) but also manifesting itself in the world of rent control and activism. Two separate rallies have been announced to bring attention to outrageous rents. On June 30 at 6:30 p.m. on the west steps of the Colorado Capitol, two organizations, Together Colorado and 9to5 Colorado, are holding a rally to protest the recent veto threat by Gov. Polis on a rent stabilization measure for mobile home lot rents. HB 1287 passed with some good protections for mobile home residents, but only after the bills’ sponsors agreed to gut their own proposal by stripping out the most powerful protection, namely, to limit rent increases for mobile home lots. It’s a good opportunity for mobile home residents to voice their opposition to Polis’ veto threat, said Meghan Carrier, of Together Colorado, and push back against the despair on unending rent increases (see Unrepentant Tenant, “Rent relief in St. Paul and the Polis Betrayal,” May 5, 2022).
BOULDER COUNTY’S INDEPENDENT VOICE
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The second summer rally will be on July 10 and will protest the state law banning rent control. Sponsored by the Colorado Housing for All Coalition (which includes Together Colorado and 9to5 Colorado), I’ll write more about that event in my next column. Returning to the big picture of tenant protections from 1969-1985, three Boulder tenant groups were active—The Boulder Tenants Union, Boulder County Tenants Organization and the Renters Rights Project. As they organized and counseled thousands of renters during those years, they collected a mountain of information and saw a number of consistent issues come up, and raised them to the City Council and the media to get meaningful changes. (Simultaneously, Boulder’s Human Rights Office was receiving more than 200 tenant complaints per year on similar issues. Other organizations, such as Boulder Legal see UNREPENTANT TENANT Page 8
JUNE 16, 2022
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