Politics & Government

Capitola City Council Postpones Rent Control Vote in Meeting Dedicated to Celestial Cassman

Council chambers were once again packed with residents of Surf and Sand Mobile Home Park.

Thursday's meeting of the Capitola City Council ran the gamut from jovial to tension-filled, with cash flowing one minute, and wallets closed the next. received difficult-to-interpret news, when a decision on rent control was postponed indefinitely. 

Mayor Dennis Norton opened the meeting by dedicating the session to Deputy City Attorney Celestial Cassman, who was . The flag outside Capitola City Hall will fly at half-mast through the weekend in honor of Cassman. 

See below the five standout moments of the meeting: 

Find out what's happening in Capitola-Soquelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Mike Banks of the Capitola Public Safety & Community Service Foundation raffled off a Costa Rica vacation valued at $4,900, including $2,000 in airfare, to David Banks, who is, in fact, the son of Mike Banks, the organizer of the raffle. He reportedly bought his tickets just hours before the meeting. Several cash prizes were also awarded. Included in those winners were Mayor Dennis Norton ($100), City Clerk Pam Greeninger ($200) and former City Manager Richard Hill ($500).
  • Vice Mayor Michael Termini moved to postpone deliberation indefinitely on the repeal of rent control. The motion passed on a 4-1 vote, with the only dissenting vote coming from Councilman Kirby Nicol, who has been .
  • Capitola resident , who was escorted out of the Aug. 25 meeting after, as he said, “being accused of making a personal attack on a council member” by police Sgt. Cliff Sloma, called for the rest of Capitola to “recall members of the City Council who show no respect for the rights of our citizens.”
  • Surf and Sand resident Bill Newman, 86, addressed the council and gave a spirited speech, which can be read in its entirety below.
  • Councilman Sam Storey asked for an end of hateful, threatening emails and expressed his willingness to meet respectfully with any resident who wishes to collaborate on finding a resolution to the problems facing the city regarding rent control.

Bill Newman, 86, of Surf and Sand Mobile Home Park:

“My name is Bill Newman, and I live at Ground Zero, as we call it. My doctor and my cardiologist told me to stop making speeches. I think you guys would probably approve of that wholeheartedly, but it occurred to me that we keep needing to bring up something that is very fundamental as part of this process that has been going on for some time now.

Find out what's happening in Capitola-Soquelwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"So I would like to refer back, to reinforce all of our clarity about the ordinance that you passed to supersede or amend our rent control ordinance. It says, ‘fair market rent shall mean fair market determined by the park owner in good faith.’ We have a man who has shown very little good faith, because he has not maintained the mobile home park for the last 15 years, and we’re expecting the impossible here.

"We’re all kind of reeling under the impact of that statement. You’ve allowed the park owner and his lawyers to raise havoc with the lives of dozens of Capitola citizens, who have been faithfully paying their rent for decades, only to be attacked by the park owner and his lawyers like a pack of dogs.

"Some of us are growing old and fragile and want only to enjoy peace and time in our old age. We are, of course, ideal targets for the money-grubbing team of hoodlums that you unleashed upon us. Capitola pays dearly for a team of advisers that you have hired to help you avoid making such poor decisions. You’ve been poorly served. I’m amazed that these people are still under your employ. In Mr. Nicol’s free-market world, they would have been canned by now.

"I thank you for your time, and I’ll talk to you again, probably.” 


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