Guest Opinion| William Paparian: The Triumph of People Over Profits

The privileged and the powerful no longer control the future destiny of Pasadena.

The stunning victory of Measure H, the Rent Control Measure, has sounded the death-knell of the well heeled power brokers unbridled stranglehold over our City.

It’s a new dawn in the Crown City.  

The City Council dithered and did nothing

As average rents in Pasadena increased more than 20% in the last year alone, with many local residents (almost 25,000) now paying over half of their income to greedy landlords.

For housing for their families, the voters of Pasadena have risen up and seized power from the City Hall lap dogs of the privileged and the powerful.

While our elected public officials, ensconced in their insulated bunker under the city dome, did nothing to protect Pasadena tenants from unreasonable evictions and rent increases, seniors and working class families couldn’t wait any longer and have now enacted the  personal housing security that they so desperately needed.

In a City where there is only state-imposed limits on campaign contributions, and no limit on how long a power hungry politician can hold office, what has happened with the passage of Measure H is nothing short of a miracle.  

Those that opposed the Rent Control Measure will be swept up in the dustbin of local political history.  

Going forward, the future path of Pasadena government will look back on the period before the passage of Measure H as the era of the washed up political has-beens who are now relics of a distant past. 

Make no mistake about it, what we have witnessed is a fundamental transformation of Pasadena.

A tectonic power shift has taken place, a realignment of the political planets and stars.

Nothing will ever be the same again.