Volume XCIV, Number 55
trojan
University of Southern California
Tuesday, November 22, 1983
'Olympic eviction’ issue raised in landlord dispute
By Mark Lowe
Assistant City Editor
A university student faces eviction from the room he rents in a local house under circumstances that are raising questions not only about rent control but also about landlords who may try to empty their houses to bring in high-paying tenants for the Olympics.
Neil Meccia, a 29-year-old doctoral candidate in public administration, rents one room of the house in the 2300 block of Portland St. It is roughly the size of a standard apartment living room and is sparsely furnished, mostly with items Meccia found in the basement of the house and then repaired. He pays his rent separately from the other
Senate calls for reroute of Light Rail transit line
By Joann Galardy
Assistant City- Editor
The Student Senate unanimously passed a resolution Sunday in support of a proposal which would call for the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission (LACTC) to run the Los Angeles to Long Beach Light Rail near the university on Figueroa Street.
The 22.5-mile Light Rail, as it is now proposed, will bypass the university and, instead, travel down Long Beach Avenue, about two miles to the east. University administrators have already requested that the LACTC reroute the line near the university.
The resolution said the LACTC, by not placing the line near the university, showed "little regard" for the needs of students, local businesses, and community residents. The resolution cited several reasons why the Light Rail, which carries passengers between Los Angeles and Long Beach, should (Continued on page 2)
tenants, as in an apartment house.
Meccia believes he is being evicted because he challenged a move that would nearly double his monthly rent from $167 to $300.
But Meccia believes there is more at stake. He thinks he is becoming a victim of an "Olympic eviction" — an illegal attempt by a landlord to break his tenants' contracts by evicting them, allowing him to raise the rent and attract tenants who will pay the high rent during the three weeks of the Olympic games.
A common complaint
Leo Lacy, the university's legal counsel for students, said that dilemmas such as Meccia's are becoming widespread and a constant source of friction between area landlords and students.
"It's a problem for kids living in this area," said Lacy, who is serving as Meccia's counsel in the case. "The landlords are giving them hell. I get complaints about it every week."
A spokeswoman for the Rent Stabilization Division of the City of Los Angeles, said "all the tenants are a little paranoid about the Olympics," and that "there has been concern" about evictions just before the Olympics.
However, Lacy said fears of landlords trying to empty their houses of tenants and re-filling them with Olympic visitors are real. He said landlords will use "any ruse they can think of" to force their tenants out.
Meccia also believes the eviction is designed to intimidate the other student tenants in the house into accepting an illegal rent increase.
"If he can force me out, a person he sees as an advocate. . .if he can get rid of me, the other (tenants) will quickly fall into line," Meccia said.
The landlord, Donald Kuznetsov, maintains the eviction is justified because of alleged behavior j^roblems on Meccia's part.
Kuznetsov said the proceedings are "a legal problem," adding, "if someone gets evicted
because he's not a good tenan-t. . .and then an eviction comes concurrent with another event (the tenant will do what he can to defend himself)."
The dispute between landlord and tenant began Nov. 9, when Kuznetsov delivered Meccia a notice that his rent would go up on Dec. 1 from $167 per month to $300 per month, an 80 percent increase that Kuznetsov said would make the rent "comparable and equal to other rents in the area, or less."
Rent control an issue
According to the dty's rent control ordinance, landlords cannot increase rents by more than seven percent each year. But in the letter, Kuznetsov said the house "is now no longer under the rent control ordinance, as of Nov. 7, 1983."
Under the ordinance, a singlefamily residence — a house rented in its entirety to one family or group — is not under rent control, while a rooming house
—	where different tenants rent separate rooms individually of each other —is under the restrictions.
But Ray Crisp, administrative assistant in the registrations section of the rity’s Rent Stabilization Division, said his office did not tell Kuznetsov his house was free from the ordinance. Rather, he said, it merely indicated that "based upon these descriptions (that Kuznetsov provided). . .it would appear that this dwelling is a singlefamily dwelling unit/'
Crisp said division personnel were going to inspect the house themselves and make a fincil ruling.
The dispute over the rent increase did not end Nov. 9, nor did it end with the question of rent control. On Nov. 13, Meccia said Kuznetsov gave him two additional documents, one a notice of intent to vacate, the other an agreement to stay at an increase of $295 per month.
"I said,. 'Show me proof that the house has been taken off (Continued on page 2)
NEIL MECCIA
Loan program aids students, parents
By Joann Galardy
Assistant City Editor
Approximately 1,000 university students have used the California Loans to Assist Students (CLAS), a new student loan program designed as an alternative to other established loan systems, said Fred Hessinger, director of finandal aid.
Sponsored by the state's California Student Loan Authority, the $121 million loan fund is the only finandal assistance provided directly to students' parents, as well as students themselves. Financial aid administrators hope the new program will parallel the Guaranteed Student Loan (GSL) program which is available only to students.
CLAS loans, which the state began awarding last April, are available to parents, graduate students, and undergraduate students who are no longer financially dependent on their parents, said Douglas Coats, lender liaison for the California Student Loan Authority.
The loans are intended to help middle-dass families who may not qualify for the GSL because of that program's $30,000 income ceiling, said Coats. The loans are also aimed at graduate and professional students who need to supplement their GSL loan, he added.
Under the current regulations, redpients are eligible to receive up to $3,000 a year if they can prove their ability to repay the loan. They have up to five years to repay the prindpal but must begin paying the 12 percent interest within 60 days after the loan is received. Full-time students can defer payment on the prindpal until after they complete their course of study.
While graduate students can be awarded the maximum CLAS award of $3,000 and the maximum GSL of $5,000, finandally independent undergraduates are only eligible for a combined total of $2,500.
"Financially independent undergraduates probably would not
(Continued on page 2)
Kennedy remembered
Flag flies at half staff for 4 presidents today
By Carmen Chandler
Assistant Qty Editor
Today marks the 20th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, but 20 years ago this morning, the biggest concern on campus was whether the university's football team could beat UCLA the next day. A win would mean a possible trip to the Rose Bowl.
However, by noon the game was the last thing on everyone's mind — President Kennedy had been murdered during a motorcade in the streets of Dallas, Texas less than two hours before.
When the first reports of the shooting came over the radio, activities on campus came to a virtual standstill. Students, faculty, staff and administrators huddled around radios or the UPI teletype receiver in the Daily Trojan office.
Hundreds of people clustered around Tommy Trojan, where a film crew had parked their car and turned the radio on loud so everyone could hear the latest news.
Chancellor Norman Topping, who was then president of the university, cancelled all afternoon dasses, saying, "This was the saddest day on our campus. Perhaps it was the saddest day in the history of the United States."
On Saturday, the football game was cancelled when President Johnson declared the day a "National Day of Mourning."
"We were having a meeting in the President's conference room, Betty Murray was my secretary and she brought a message in that the President had been shot in Dallas," said Topping in remembering the day. "(Everyone in the room was in) tre-(Continued on page 2)
The university will offidally observe today the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, as well as the assassinations of three other presidents, by flying the American flag in front of the administration at half staff.
University President James Zum-berge's office agreed Monday to honor part of a resolution by the executive board of the Trojan College Republicans calling for a day of respect to Presidents Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield and William McKinley.
Last Friday, officials from Zum-berge's office had said a univer-sitywide observance was not planned. But Monday the office dedded to allow an observance following an early morning request by the Trojan College Republicans.
The original resolution by the Trojan Republicans called for a moment of silence and the playing of "Taps" as the flag was lowered.
Zumberge's office agreed to fly the flag at half staff, but did not agree to the playing of 'Taps." However, the president's office said members of the campus community could honor a moment of silence at noon today if they wished.
John Williams, a board member of the College Republicans, said the observance was "a reaffirmation of American political ideals — not a political statement."
A similar observance will take place at UCLA today, sponsored by Bruin College Democrats and UCLA's Gay and Lesbian Student Union.
ATHER ALI/DAILY TROJAN