CITY HALL — Just more than half a year into his
second term on the Rent Control Board, Joel Koury, who commanded the
most votes in the November election, resigned from his post last week
citing the desire to spend more time with his young family.
Such
time with his wife and two children — ages 9 and 6 — has become even
more scarce since Koury, who was first elected to the board in 2004 as
one of several candidates backed by Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights,
took on a new job as an attorney with the Federal Public Defender in
Downtown Los Angeles about a year ago.
He previously worked at the Los Angeles County Public Defender for 18 years.
"The
demands at my new job are such that I rarely have time to breathe let
alone handle extra responsibilities and that's coming at the expense of
my family," Koury said during an interview on Monday.
The
announcement during the Rent Control Board meeting last Thursday came
as a surprise to fellow commissioners who said they sympathized with
their colleague's position.
"He's working on a high-level federal defense team
and he's got young children," Robert Kronovet, who was elected last
year, said. "He's realizing his kids are growing up and needs to spend
precious time with them
Zelia Mollica said she was shocked when Koury
informed the board that he would be leaving, calling the board chairman
"humble but extremely smart."
"He has a strong sense of fairness and I feel like we are really losing a great asset for the Rent Control Board," he said.
The
next question will focus on who the board will appoint to replace
Koury, a discussion that is expected to take place at its next meeting
on Aug. 6.
The appointed replacement will serve on the term
through the next municipal election in 2010. Whomever is elected will
then be seated until Koury's term is up in 2012.
Kronovet said
he would like to see someone who has knowledge of the banking or real
estate industry, adding that the taxpayers are entitled to a
professional individual who understand various aspects of housing and
not someone who is a "party member."
Excluding Koury, Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights has a 3-1 majority on the Rent Control Board.
Koury,
who was a renter for six years and has been a homeowner since, decided
to make a run for the board because he felt it was important to mediate
disputes between landlords and tenants fairly.
"It's important
to the property management side that there is someone fair listening to
their issues and seeing they get a fair return entitled under the law
and I think it's obviously important to renters that they not get
unnecessarily priced out of their homes," he said.
He said the
board has weathered several storms in the past few years, including
fighting Proposition 98, which sought to end eminent domain and
ultimately, according to rent control advocates, phase out rent control
across the state. The proposition was defeated in the June 2008
primary.
The board also went through a long process of replacing several key personnel, including the general counsel and administrator.
"I think we put the department in a position where it will be stable and strong for the next 10 years at least," he said.
It's one of the reasons why Koury said he feels comfortable leaving the board at this point.
Koury
said his job with the Federal Public Defender brings with it some
constraints when it comes to taking off time, noting that some of his
colleagues were surprised when he decided to take off Independence Day,
which fell on a Saturday this year.
"The time and the flexibility is what is lacking with the Federal Defender's Office," he said.
Tracy
Condon, who was hired to replace former Rent Control Board
Administrator Mary Ann Yukonis in 2007, said Koury was a significant
contributor to the board and was always well-prepared for meetings.
"He thought carefully about each of the decisions that he made and that the board made," she said.
FAIR USE NOTICE. This document may contain copyrighted material the use of which may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Tenants Together is making this article available on our website in an effort to advance the understanding of tenant rights issues in California. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.