Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 23

Thursday, December 21, 1978-23 Reno Evening (Jazette 'Maybe I'll sleep in the City Nine elderly residents face eviction from Reno guest house hop on a bus to Seattle to live inw I 4L.jlk UfV' p- Xv ll JH with his sister. Steve Pernish, 74, has lined up a room at the Lenox Hotel. Ed Basher, 72, who works as a dishwasher, has found a place on Grove Street. Jesse Reirdon, in his early 60s, also found a room at the Lenox. But the rest, like White, are not so lucky.

Ed Daniels, Jesse Warwick, Pat Dawson and Miss Henkle have not found new homes. Even worse off is Marie White-man, 76, who is in Washoe Medical Center, the victim of a stroke. Mrs. Whiteman, like the others, will have no place to live after she gets out of the hospital. In the summer of 1977, Emil Fritsche, who opened the house in 1951, died at the age of 96.

Mrs. Black purchased the building from the Fritsche family. Whenever a building changes ownership, the structure is examined by the Building and Safety Department to make sure it conforms with the latest safety regulations. An inspection team visited the Fritsche house in August 1977 and found that the wiring, water heaters and other wooden buildings on the premises to be unsafe. In October 1977, the Blacks were able to secure a temporary certificate of occupancy for the Fritsche under extenuating circumstances the nine persons, most with with disabilities and limited incomes, who live there.

Former Building and Safety Director Joe Mastroianni approved the certificate. In return, Leroy Black filed a letter with the department in which he agreed to discontinue use of the Fritsche as a guest house Dec. 1 if it was not up to code by then. In the meantime, an investment group sought to buy the lot for development of a 40-unit motel. The Blacks gave the group until Dec.

1 to close the deal. When the deadline came, the Blacks were not able to complete the deal with the investors. They gave the potential buyers an extension to Jan. 2 to close the deal. During that period, no apparent efforts were made to relocate the tenants.

Miss Henkle said a letter Dec. 13 was the first she learned that she will have to move. Prior to that, she said, Mrs. Black had told her everything would be "all right." she said," Miss Henkle recalled. will come out all right at city She told us everything was all "I took it for granted," Miss Henkle said.

"She was the owner, and she knew what she was doing." Mrs. Black conceded Wednesday night that she was waiting for the purchase of the Fritshce to go through so she would not have to rewire the house and correct the water heater problem. The Blacks did install smoke and fire detectors in the house. Correcting the house's problems, she said, "would be putting good money after bad" since the potential buyers were planning to level the structure. On their own Lou Henkle, standing, and Folger White, a blind tenant of the Fritsche Guest House, which has been ordered closed by the city By RODNEY FOO Reno Just can't seem to make room for old people, one elderly resident of a soon-to-be-closed rooming house said Thursday about the news that she and eight other residents will be evicted Dec.

28. The City of Reno ordered the Fritsche Guest House vacated by that date because of a building Inspector's 14-month-old report of unsafe wiring, unsafe water heaters and unsafe wooden buildings on the premises. After that report and citation was issued to the Center Street rooming house, the city allowed as temporary certificate of occupancy to give the owners, Ida Black and her son, Leroy, time to either relocate tenants or correct the house's problems. And now the time has run out. The certificate has expired, and while the owners are arguing with the city for an extension, some of the tenants have nowhere to go.

The tenants range in age from 62 to 83 and are on limited incomes. They are trying to find places to live but are having trouble in Reno's tight housing market. A request to the city for an extension to live at the house until Jan 4. has been refused the city ordered the owners to have them out by Dec. 28.

Folger White, 70, who has lived at the Fritsche house for two years, said he has no idea where he would live if evicted. "I can't even get out on the street to see anybody, it's so slick (with ice) now. Maybe I'll go down and sleep in the City Council room, I guess," he said, jokingly. White has only 3 percent of his vision left. He said he likes living at the Fritsche because "my doctor is two blocks down the street, and the drugstore is across the street." "Seems like every time I move, it's in the winter," he said.

White said he lived in the old Travelers Hotel before it was torn down to make way for the Sahara-Reno. Manager Lou Henkle, 65, who has lived at the Fritsche for 27 years, said, "I think they'll make it. Everything will be fine in time. All we got to do is wait for our checks." Miss Henkel, as she sat on the edge of her bed in the dark front room, said, "There's a lot of greed going around. They're making room for the tourists in town, but they don't vote in this town.

It's the old people that do the voting." The Fritsche Guest House, though cluttered with the residents' belongings, is a clean place. The floors, covered with unmatching linoleum, have no trace of dust. The house is kept dark with the window shades drawn and the occupants sometimes have to turn on the lights during the day. The steam radiators, which keep the home quite warm, turns the air stale. But tenants don't seem to mind that staleness.

They just hope they can stay at least until January, when their social security checks and government pension checks are due. One of them, Oscar Wanless, 83, a World War I Army veteran, will Oasis By ERNEST WEBSTER Residents of the Oasis Housing Development at Stead, whose rents were scheduled to rise from 40 to 60 percent on Jan. 1, have been granted a temporary reprieve, owners of the development announced Wednesday. Instead of having to pay the increase all at once, tenants will pay a portion of the increase over the next six months. But Oasis owners did not lower any of the proposed rent hikes as most of the tenants had hoped.

room' where they are going to move to Gazette photo by Juan Garcia) they weren't appraised," Herring-ton said. When asked if the city would consider giving Fritsche an extension until Jan. 4, Herrington said, "I feel the city has already extended the extension by giving them 14 months. That is by far long enough to decide whether to bring it up to code or relocate the people or demolish it and reconstruct it. The new owners, Herrington said, have filed plans with his department, and "they have told me they will not bring it up to code." In the meantime, the Fritsche residents could stay at their home until their Jan.

4 date. The owners would be cited and would be ordered to appear in court, probably on Jan. 8, after the tenants have moved out. The judge, having what would appear to be a moot case before him would probably give the Blacks a stern lecture or a slight fine, said the three city officials However, that would only solve the problem of where the Fritsche tenants would live until Jan. 4.

After that, they are on their own. doses not help the tenants until after state courts decide whether city or county government rent controls are constitutional. Currently, no county or city government in Nevada has the authority to impose rent controls, said City Attorney Robert Van Wagoner, and Reno will be a test case. Reno plans to ask the Second Judicial District Court to decide if it can impose the controls, he said. Renters will have to wait at least until March before the courts reach a decision, he said.

"And the upcoming court case only applies to mobile home tenants and landlords," Van Wagoner said, "because the Mobile Home Tenants Association was the first group to approach the council with a request for rent control. "If the judicial court rules that rent controls can be imposed by city and county governments on mobile homes, the council could create an ordinance as such. And at that time, the council would have to decide if they wanted to expand that ordinance to include all other housing units such as apartments and houses," Van Wagoner said. $3,000 man with blond collar-length hair and wearing a green jacket, simulated a gun in robbing employee Dorinda Wooldrich of $75 at the Dairy Queen restaurant at 606 N. Virginia St.

At 11:30 p.m., a small young man, wearing a blue jacket which covered most of his head, threatened attendant Edward H. Thompson and took $119 from the Regal service station at 900 W. Fourth St. Council due to unsafe condition, discuss when the house is closed. "If everybody there plugged in a heater on the 29th and the place burned down, where would the city be? The city has to assume its responsibility to the tenants," Van Lydegraf said.

He added that if the tenants are not out by Dec. 28, the owners could be cited and taken to court on misdemeanor charges. Ewald said, "The situation at this time is that we're afraid of a fire breaking out on the 29th that could cause injury and death, and the city would have a good share cf the liability." When asked why the city, if it felt that way, issued a 14-month temporary certificate in the first place, Ewald said, "I wasn't privy to that. That was done solely to help the owners find relocation for these people. "We would have held our collective breaths if I knew about it," he said.

"Our liability hung out for 14 months," said Phil Herrington, director of Building and Safety. "I wouldn't have given it to them." "What is extraordinary is the 14 months they were given to get their act together. They can't say Rubin and ACORN do not represent you and in fact, do not even represent a majority of the tenants. We do not believe that a majority of the tenants approve of the tactics employed by Mr. Rubin and ACORN.

Therefore, we will not deal with Mr. Rubin or In Wednesday's news release, Rubin denied that ACORN members had threatened the landlords with violence, "although the stub-borness lof these owners made us consider every recourse short of violence." Negotiations had been broken off due to disinterest on both sides after the tenants' association rejected the owners' precondition that the rent increase for January was non-neogtiable, Rubin said. The stretching out of the rent increases over a six-month period also will give Oasis tenants more time to await a court ruling on whether the City of Reno has the authority to impose rent controls. Several Oasis tenants appeared before the city council last Monday and pleaded with the city to immediately impose rent controls on Argosy. But councilmen said they could robbed of money." He and another man, who had stood nearby, took the money and slowly walked from the bank.

Reno police said the one with the gun was tall with broad shoulders, a slim waist and black hair. He wore a tan blazer. The other man was about the same height, had short wavy hair and wore gold-rim glasses and a dark brown jacket. About 10 minutes later, a young tenants will get rent hike in smaller "They have plans to build a motel, and we have an option to sell it as is at a price we have committed ourselves to selling the property as is. Therefore, our hands are tied," she said.

She said that if she had not decided to sell the lot, she would have fixed the home. If the deal does not go through, Mrs. Black said, she will correct the house's deficiencies. Mrs. Black said she can not understand why the city, which gave the Blacks a 14-month temporary certificate, can't allow an extension to Jan.

2, when the deal could be completed. "Nothing has happened in 30 years and nothing is going to happen in 30 days. There is no fire danger there whatever. There are plenty of apartments in worse condition that are being rented," she said. The Blacks met with Lance Van Lydegraf, assistant city attorney, and Mike Ewald, special assistant to the city manager, Wednesday afternoon about the situation.

They came out of the meeting livid. "It is unbelievable. There was no cooperation," she shouted. notice distributed in November), a person living in a three-bedroom duplex and paying $210 per month would pay $300 per month by Jan. 1 and $335 per month by July 1.

Under the new rent plan, the same tenant will pay about $228 in January; $246 in February; $264 in March; $264 again in April; $282 in May, and $300 on June 1. The next month the rent would go to $335. Despite the fact that no action was taken by Argosy as far as reducing rents, ACORN (the Association of Community Organiza- prospects of a condominum, saying that all questions of this nature should be handled by president Morey Mason. He said Mason was on vacation and would not be available for comment until after the first of the year. Other sources said today that the group represented by Schlegal have an option to buy the Arlington Towers if approval to con- vert the property is allowed by city officials.

Schlegal is also the owner of the River Inn, which recently filed for bankruptcy. fit Mr HA HA HA! HA HA! HAJtHA! Van Lydegraf noted that temporary certificates of occupancy usually are granted for 30 days. "The city went overboard and gave them that time," he said. "But it was based on our understanding that they would relocate those people. "They made the decision not to invest dollars into the property because they have decided to sell it," Van Lydegraf said.

When asked if the city would consider giving the Blacks and their tenants until Jan. 4, Van Lydegraf replied, "A whole year is a long time. "The city is not obligated to be lenient. They have had a full year. The city attorney is inclined in that direction because of the fact they had a whole year to address the problem.

They now deny they ever knew about it. "So, I can't take anything they say on good faith and "in that context, I think it is a reasonable position. "These people (the tenants) are occupying a building that the city believes is unsafe for occupancy horse stalls converted into dwellings. You just have to draw the line some place. tions for Reform Now) and the Stead Tenants Association (STA), claimed a "major victory at Oasis" as a result of the Argosy announcement Wednesday.

"This is an important victory for all the tenants of the Reno-Sparks area," said Rusty Rubin, chairman of the STA. "It shows that organization and pressure can put a limit on speculation and non-compassionate rent increases," he said. Officials from Argosy, however, in a letter to Oasis tenants, said that neither ACORN nor the STA helped them in reaching a plan of lessening the pain of the rent increases. "We have been in contact with a group of tenants headed by Taffy Blevins and Joe McClelland and with Reno Mayor Bruno Menicuc-ci in order to reduce the impact of the proposed rent increase Keller stated at the beginning of his letter. Keller claims this group represents only about "half-a-dozen" or so Oasis tenants.

However, Rubin, Blevins and McClelland claim to represent a majority of the 257 renters. Keller told the tenants, "Many of you have informed us that Mr. Reno bank Armed robbers struck Wednesday in Reno at a service station, a fast-food restaurant and a bank. At 2:32 p.m., two men, one displaying a pistol in his waistband, held up Pioneer Citizens Bank of Nevada, 1001 W. Moana Lane, and fled with $3,032.

Teller Cherl Hastings said one of the men went to her window and said, "This is a holdup. Don't look around. Give me all your The Oasis Housing Complex is owned by Argosy Properties, consisting of James H. Keller and American Savings and Loan Association. Argosy made no mention in its announcement about another major rent hike scheduled for Oasis on July 1.

But Keller said today that present market conditions prevent the company from altering its plans for rent increases in July. Under Argosy's original rent proposal (according to an Argosy fore becoming a reality. She said it is her understanding that individuals represented by attorney Charles Schlegal have an option to buy the property. Schlegal was reported to be on vacation this week and was unavailable for comment. The legal owner of the Arlington Towers is the Mason a construction-development company with offices in Las Vegas and Reno.

Company treasurer Ed Se-ligman of Las Vegas declined to answer any questions about the Arlington Towers' residents told building to be condos Residents of the 194-unit Arlington Towers apartment complex were notified this week that plans are under way to turn the property into a condominum development. Apartment manager Helga Stef-fee confirmed this morning that notices were sent to tenants to inform them that tentative plans have been arranged for such a conversion. But she emphasized that the notification is only the beginning of a process which could take as long as eight months be "THE RAIN CAMEP0WN HARPER ANP HARPER BUT 11 Another Christmas eve santa anp his rain gear hap pone their job! the enp" THE MAN IN THE BELLOW SLICKER ANP BI6 RUBBER BOOTS NEVER FALTEREP" vi I I 4) Jnild fMluf Syndu 11.