This is the first in a series of posts we will do about Page Mill’s ugly relation to the truth.

In a recent Mercury News article, Page Mill spokesperson Jim Shore finally admitted that Page Mill has evicted hundreds of people in East Palo Alto.  This is progress toward the unhappy truth.

Two weeks ago, Page Mill’s hired Public Relations “fixer,” Sam Singer, said in a prepared statement that Page Mill had only evicted twenty residents, and that “The data that is being provided by a local tenants group is simply false.”   Anyone who has actually been to the neighborhood knows this is false, and certainly Page Mill knew it was an outright falsehood.  When the fair rent coalition then published the actual San Mateo case numbers for the unlawful detainers filed by Page Mill, our favorite pension fund raiders were trapped in their own smokescreen.

Without apologizing for the insult of senseless lying and insult (or acknowledging that they had been irrefutably exposed in their lies), the refuted Mr. Shore simply tried to change the subject, arguing that though those previously denied evictions had indeed happened, but that such numbers were completely normal number, given the tenants that they had.

Okay, so for those of you keeping score at home, I think the score right now is Page Mill 0, the Truth 2.

Now, let it be said that some of Mr. Shore’s claims are really not verifiable and simply bizarre. Take for example his refusal to talk about vacancy rates in the East Palo Properties, on the grounds that such information is “proprietary.”  Hmm.  That’s interesting.  According to a scientifically conducted sample survey conducted by the fair rent coalition, Page Mill has achieved a vacancy rate of approximately 25% in their units in East Palo Alto—a rate that is about eight times the historic 3% vacancy rate of these apartments.  So when the Mercury News wanted Page Mill to comment on how they have reached this glorious achievement of being eight times worse at retaining tenants than their predecessors, Mr. Shore claimed such business information is a secret?  Isn’t that kind of like the teenager who trashes his parents house during the weekend and then replies, “Sorry, Dad, I can’t tell how it happened because that the story constitutes privileged information”?   Okay, so now we are at Page Mill 0, The Truth 2, The Bizarre 1.

But then the reporter, Jessica Bernstein-Wax, obviously asked Page Mill about the disproportionate rate at which they evict people in East Palo Alto.  Contacting an equivalently large landlord in Redwood City, and asking for a point of comparison between Page Mill’s 100 evictions per 1800 units, we learn:

Shirleen McDougal, president of Whitley Property Management in Redwood City, said her company manages about 1,100 units in the area and files about one unlawful detainer a year. Eviction rates of about 1 or 2 percent are fairly common in the area, said Len Moore, of San Carlos-based Vilmont Investment Properties.

This is good journalism, not content to let Page Mill put down another smokescreen.  Let’s see, Page Mill has approximately a 10% eviction rate over eighteen months, and other landlords are reporting about 1-2% a year, but with numbers as low as 1 in 1100 (about 1/10th of percent).  And Page Mill claims that their eviction rates are typical?  I think that the tenant volunteers have documented beyond any reasonable discussion that Page Mill cannot count, and that Page Mill has a serious eviction problem.  Another point for the Truth and a minus point for Page Mill for lame excuses of “confidentiality”.  (They are in fact required by local law to provide this information to the City, but have refused)   I think we also must give out a half-point on the bizarre for Mr. Shore’s seeming inability to grasp basic math. Page Mill 0, The Truth 3, The Bizarre 1.5

Page Mill’s spokespersons have represented many times to the rent board and to the City that they have “no intention of evicting people.”  They have such a funny way of showing it!   What is Page Mill planning to do with East Palo Alto other than to let units sit vacant for no reason? One can only ask which side of the  incompetence/mendacity pendulum Page Mill’s Jim Shore and David Taran are on today.  For now we can only add score: The Preposterous 1

Finally, last but not least: included in the Mercury article are several reports that Page Mill has intentionally refused to accept rent from tenants receiving “pay-or-quit” notices.  Could it be that the blatant refusal to accept rents is in fact a Page Mill strategy to drive people out? Page Mill must merely claim the rent is a single day late, refuse to accept the rent, and start an eviction process? Clearly Whitley Property Management does the right (and legal) thing, allowing tenants who fall behind on their rent to catch up and stay in their apartment.  Page Mill, on the other hand, seems to squeeze the eviction trigger with the glee of a ten-year old with a bb-gun.

How widespread are these refusals to accept rent payments? If you have experienced a refusal of rent from Page Mill, please write to us at mail@pagemillwatch.com, and we’ll preserve your confidentiality and try to do the truth some good.

Let Page Mill know: we’re going to do some more digging into some of Mr. Shore’s other claims, and we’ll report back here soon.  Oh by the way, if anyone from Page Mill cares to write in to tell us what you think the score should be, please do write.  We promise to reprint your response in toto on the website.