Orange County Legislative Watch P.I.L. — Our Public Image is Limited

P.I.L. — Our Public Image is Limited

By Chip ahlswede

Johnny Rotten became a punk rock legend in the 1970s as lead singer of

The Sex Pistols, by biting back at what society — the establishment — considered normal and acceptable. In the 1980s, he maintained his iconic rebel nature as he fronted a new band along with fellow punk pioneer, former Clash guitarist Keith Levene. Staying relevant, however, required the two of them to reposition themselves and how the music industry saw them.

They shed their previous personas — Johnny Rotten went so far as to start performing under his given name, John Lydon — and their punk band pedigrees to become the “anti-rock” and alternative-music defining band, Public Image Ltd.

This article serves as a nod to Lydon and Levene’s success repositioning themselves and changing public perception of them in an era of change within their industry. However, it also serves as an example for which parallels can be drawn with where the rentalhousing industry presently finds itself. We are in a rapidly changing political and societal landscape where maintaining our standing among public policy makers and the communities we serve is becoming increasingly challenging and complex.

Disappointed.

That’s one word to describe how it felt coming out of a campaign that you believed you were Warrior ready to bring Home a win but ended up falling short.

Santa Ana’s Rent Control and Just Cause Eviction ordinances are now the law of the land — having taken effect on November 19, 2021 — but we aren’t Out of the Woods. As mentioned previously in the pages of Apartment News and in other member communications, AAOC fully anticipates seeing these policies spread to other nearby cities. Don’t Ask me to predict which city will be the next to consider them, but we know that those with large renter populations are the most probable: • Anaheim

• Buena Park

• Costa Mesa

• Fullerton

• Garden Grove

• Irvine

• Westminster

And others will, at the very least, have tenant activists Banging the Door.

This issue is almost becoming Religion to the current generation of tenants’ rights activists. With their zeitgeist for Rent Control and Just Cause Eviction as solutions to housing affordability and related issues, and other perceived inequities and injustices, their messages you’d recognize as the Same Old Story: • These Four Enclosed Walls are all their family has • Many people are having Hard Times • They fear a future of Worry and a

Bad Life • Their cost for housing is the hands of the Low Life in The Suit • That their Home will be lost unless rent increases are controlled

• This puts them on Unfairground

Which brings us to the tenant activists’ next tactic — attacking our Public Image.

Over the past few months, we shared some the Cruel things that they alleged rental housing providers were responsible for either having caused or contributed to. Go Back and Ease your way into their Fishing expedition for an Albatross to hang around our necks.

In their Chant, they Covered everything from profiting off people’s misery to outright racism to, believe it not, global warming. Their accusations were a literal Graveyard of societal ills blamed on the industry. It was more than enough to leave you Angry.

However, that Public Image narrative they harped upon also provides us an opportunity to Open Up. Our industry makes many positive contributions, but it has become apparent that we need to change our messaging and take control of the narrative that has been monopolized by our detractors. We need to find ways to showcase all the Good Things that we provide as rentalhousing providers.

The public — and specifically elected officials, community leaders, and other local influencers — need to hear more

substantive messages from us and receive information about what our industry represents in their communities. In the coming months, you will start to see a shift in how we present our industry and how rental-housing providers contribute to the communities where they operate. As an industry, we are: • Community Partners • Housing Providers • Affordable Housing Advocates • Upward Mobility Creators • Economic Contributors

• Small Business Builders

• People Oriented • Fiscally Responsive • Financially Beneficial • Career Providers

• And so much more

Our industry needs to be viewed more holistically by the thought leaders in our communities, as more than what our detractors’ caustic, agenda-driven messaging claims about us. The narrative that they have created about our industry being comprised of “rich, white, racist, greedy landlords” is dead wrong and we need to stop the perpetuation of that myth.

We need to rebrand. We need to redefine who we are. We need the stereotypical characterizations and views of “landlords” to change and become nothing more than Memories. This process is going to take time and it will present challenges. We are also going to take some punches from our detractors along the way. But we are going to have to take those hits and remain committed to reframing the narrative about our industry. We will be entering a Brave New World, and we want our members to be part of this effort and Rise with us. ***All italicized words in this article are song titles of Public Image Ltd.

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