1) 10% Annual Rent Increase Limit Section 1707(e) The overall Rent increase in any twelve-month period shall not exceed ten percent (10%) of the Rent actually charged to the Tenant, including any Rent increase authorized pursuant to Section 1710(e) of this Article. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the overall Rent increase in any twelve-month period may exceed ten-percent (10%) of the Rent actually charged to the Tenant only if that Rent increase is pursuant to a decision of a Hearing Officer or the Committee as a result of a Landlord Petition pursuant to Section 1710(a) of this Article.

2) Integrity and Autonomy of Committee Section 1709(k) The committee has the "duty to implement this Article and any other obligations properly delegated to it by the City Council."

3) Composition (of the Rental Housing Commission) Section 1709(a) "the City Council may appoint an otherwise eligible person who is not a Mountain View resident to the Committee so long as the person maintains an ownership or trusteeship interest in one or more Covered Rental Units."

What does the text mean?

1) Rental increases are 10%, not the 4% per year as our council authors and the California Apartment Association would want us to believe. Measure D allows temporary rent increases of 10% to cover an expense that "extends the useful life of the Covered Rental Unit." Does this mean that costs to replace countertops and paint will be passed on each year to tenants? That will be up to our newly "composed" Rental Housing Commission.

2) The Rental Housing Commission will now take its direction from the council. The RHC is no longer an independent body and as such will be subject to the priorities and agenda of the sitting council.

3) Measure D allows for two of its five members to be nonresident property owners or their representatives.

Follow the money

Recent donations for Yes on D include $83,000 from Prometheus Real Estate Group, $50,000 from Richard Tod Spieker, $27,000 from Acco Management, and $7,000 from Real Housing Santa Rosa. Only Acco Management is a Mountain View entity. The organization collecting the funds, Mountain View Residents for Renter, Homeowner & Taxpayer Protections, is sponsored by the California Apartment Association and headquartered in Marin. Yes on D signs were funded by Grand Fir, a Sunnyvale apartment company. Mountain View residents are not the ones driving this.

Joshua Howard of the CAA says Measure D will end "divisive rent control fights." Is that because it opens the door for industry lawyers to sit and vote on the Rental Housing Commission? Yes, Measure D opens that door.

Let's keep local government local. Let's have a city government that prioritizes the people of Mountain View ahead of business and profits.

Measure D ends rent control protections and community oversight, and hands the power to landlords and property owners.

Read the text. Follow the money. Vote no on Measure D.

Dave Arnone is a 25-year resident of Mountain View.