Attorney Edward Rucker lives in proximity to the short-term rental (STR) in question and took the City on regarding the illegality of this rental that was flaunted in his neighborhood. Rucker, an attorney with impeccable credentials, lost the battle and relinquishes the baton. This is his story or battle with the City regarding this STR.

Dear Friends and Neighbors of the Venice Canals,

Over the last several months, we have all felt, in varying degrees, the impact of the more than a dozen AirBnB rentals on the Canals. For lack of another candidate, I assumed the task of dealing with the unoccupied house at 212 Sherman Canal that Danny and Linda Goodman turned into a short term rental for parties and social gatherings. We held a community meeting which many of you attended, signed a petition and filed a complaint. Armed with the knowledge that such rentals in a residential neighborhood are strictly illegal, I set off with the generous help of Patti Rickles, confident I could quickly put a stop to these abuses. After an eight month struggle, I have reached the end of that road, so I felt we should give you an account of our journey.

The city Department of Building & Safety is the agency charged with enforcing zoning law violations. So I assembled enough evidence to satisfy the Department that the “party house” the Goodman’s were advertising on their websites was a being offered for short term rentals in violation of the zoning ordinances. The Department issued a citation in December, 2014, ordering the Goodmans to stop using their unoccupied house as a hotel. The case was assigned to Principal Inspector Andrew Longoria. This citation was the one and only citation the Department has ever issued against an AirBnB business. That fact alone would have made a wiser man pause and reconsider, but on we went.

Danny, of course, ignored the order and continued to rent the vacant house to people who wanted to behave in a manner that would never be tolerated in their own neighborhoods. So, once again, we did the work of the Department’s Enforcement Bureau and provided them with ample proof of Danny’s refusal to comply with the order, including: (1) a short term rental agreement for 212 Sherman Canal signed by Danny Goodman, for a 5 day period in July, 2015, along with the invoice for full payment, an email from Danny confirming the booking, along with email correspondence between Danny and our friend who rented the house after speaking with Danny on the phone; (2) links to the 3 different websites advertising the house, which include a picture of the Goodmans’s house on the canal and a calendar showing which week-ends in the future were available and which were already booked; (3) the tax rolls which show that Danny pays a Hotel Occupancy Tax, which is included in the rental price of each booking; and (4) an open offer to meet an inspector at the house any week-end and take him to the front door to meet the latest short term occupants.

Months passed and the Department took no action. Numerous emails and telephone messages up and down the bureaucratic chain of the department went unanswered. No explanation was offered by the Department for their refusal to proceed in the face of clear evidence of this continuing violation. The roster of people I contacted included the Chief Deputy, the head of the Enforcement Bureau, the Principal Inspector, the inspector’s supervisor, Councilman Bonin’s Deputy, and the neighborhood prosecutor.

Two week ago I was informed that Inspector Longoria had discussed the case with the City Attorney over the telephone and I should be patient because the Department’s “protocol” had to be followed. Two days later I was informed that the case had been closed with no action taken. The ostensible answer given for this inexplicable decision was that there was “insufficient evidence” to prove the case. Based on my 40 years of trying cases in our courts, I knew that was belied by the clear facts, so there had to be another reason.

Finally, after more emails and telephone conversations, I got the answer. I spoke with Debbie Dyner-Harris, the District Director for West LA in Councilman Bonin’s office. She is the liaison with the Department and had spoken with the principals about our case. She told me, quite frankly, that a policy decision had been made that the Department was not to enforce short term rental violations. No matter how much evidence we assemble or how clear the violation, the Department was not going to enforce the law and pursue these cases. She suggested that the decision came from the “very top,” which I took to mean the Mayor’s Office, but who knows. It was decided that the Department did not have the resources to pursue these cases. She said the City Council is considering regulations to cover these AirBnB rentals and would use the money from the Hotel Occupancy Tax to fund a new unit to enforce the regulations. Good luck! Whether it is a power play by the Department to increase their budget or just a political decision not to antagonize AirBnB and their supporters, it doesn’t matter. There is no recourse when the government won’t enforce the law except vigilantism, which is totally inappropriate. This was particularly disappointing for me on a personal level because I had recently spent two years in Ukraine working for the Open Society Justice Foundation, dedicated to introducing the rule of law to former Soviet states, and saw first hand how the social conscience of a society suffers when citizens cannot turn to their government for protection under the laws.

At any rate, dear friends and neighbors, this is the end of my efforts. I am handing the baton to anyone brave enough to wade into the political arena where the next fight will be waged against AirBnB.

Best regards,
Ed Rucker