We won! We won! We won! We won!

Yesterday I attended a Culver City Council meeting to agitate for rent control. The lack of it is a big problem in the area, with landlords frequently forcing tenants to pay for all maintenance themselves by raising their rent every time they make a maintenance request. This is why I recently paid to have my own gross carpeting replaced, even though it's been there for over 10 years and should have been done by the landlord.

The City Council took TWO HOURS before they even started on rent control, which was what everyone was there for, discussing stuff like amortizations and pension plans. I was with Yana, my five-year-old former neighbor who still drops by sometimes to visit my cats, her older brother (age nine), and her parents. At one point Yana leaned over and whispered, "I'm bored." I whispered back, "Me too."

I ended up spending two hours entertaining her via photo editing on my camera. I also fed her and her brother with bison jerky and peanut butter granola bars, as each parent had thought the other brought snacks. After her mom spoke, the kids, their dad, and I bailed as it was past 9:00 and there were 150 speakers at 2 minutes each and I hadn't had dinner other than my share of the bison jerky and granola bars.

My emergency supplies were extremely useful! I call a bored and hungry five-year-old and eight-year-old sitting through two hours of the city council discussing pension plan percentages an emergency.

The meeting went till 1:30 AM! The rent freeze was passed 4-1.

And that was not my only in-person activism this month! Last week I registered voters at Orange County Pride.

Here is a Yana-decorated photo of me doing so (note my rainbow shirt AND hair):



Also, have a rainbow unicorn: