February 13, 2008

“More PHR lawsuits”

By Danielle Seckler

   Can anyone remember when the Private Home Rental (PHR) program wasn’t a major source of annoyance to every side of the issue? We can’t. The program, which has been so successful to the PHR real estate and management industries, has consistently taken a large share of the lodging market in the valley. Second homeowners buy homes thinking they can make their mortgage payments by renting out their homes when they don’t use them, to the irritation of neighborhoods and the commercial lodges. Rowdy tourists, thinking this Opie-land, trespass, leave trash, have loud parties, and over crowd the homes and streets are just a few of the complaints from residents. The commercial lodges complain about the unfair competition, as they have many State, County, and City ordinances placed on them. Five years ago, the residents and commercial lodges came together against the PHR industry, leaving the City Council in the middle. A great deal of time and money has been spent, trying to come to a resolution, to almost no avail.

   Lawsuits have been files and tossed out of court each and every time. A ballot initiative was presented to the voters and enough signatures were gathered for the ballot initiative forced the City to place it on the ballot for November 2008. Many thought that finally a resolution will be made by the voters and finally the issue could be put to rest. Now it looks like the issue will drag on forever, with the newest lawsuit put forth by Citizens Protecting the Rights of Property Owners (CPRPRO), that claims that the petitions didn’t have the initiative printed on the top each signature page. The rules are governed by State law, which the City Clerk, Kathy Jefferies administers.

   The lack of trust between the City’s staff and the residents or business owners is never ending and this latest bump in the road isn’t going to improve this. Many people think that the City didn’t do their job by making sure that the initiative was correct, by either intent or ignorance. Others wonder what the initiative’s creators were thinking; if you don’t trust the City why depend on their advice as to how to create the petition and ballot measure.

  In fact, both sides look like boobs; leaving the residents high and dry, once again.

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