If we were going to put a headline to yesterday , it would be Cash Cow's Stampede in Salem . Join us . Hi everybody , I'm Bill Bateman , part of the team here at Oregon State Tenants Association , or OSTA as we like to call it , and yesterday . I just have to say a giant thank you to each of you . It's folks like you who got up , came out , got involved that made yesterday such a success . Yesterday in Salem was the first hearing of House Bill HB 3054 . We had a great turnout . We overflowed into one of the overflow hearing rooms , we had testimony , we had all kinds of presentations , we had people in cow hats , we had a lot of good things happening and , by the way , if you were one of the people who took the effort to attend and I know it's difficult I want to say again a personal thank you to each of you who came out . If you happen to take any pictures yesterday , I've got two things I'd like to ask you to do . First , could you send us some photos you're willing to share , because we're going to put them in our newsletter and we're going to use them with or without your name ? Please tell us what you wish , with or without your name , in relation to building interest in the event . Also , if you have pictures , share them on Facebook , share them on Instagram , post them in your church bulletin board . Let folks know what's going on , because this is how we got to where we were .
Speaker 1You have to stop and realize this is the first time that legislation has actually gotten this far in . I want to say four to five years Fact . Check me if you will and correct me if I'm wrong . I believe it's in four years . There's been a lot of false starts , a lot of things gonna , gonna , gonna . This is the first time . It's out the gate . It's not going to be voted on tomorrow . There's going to be further discussion , and that's a good thing . There's going to have to probably be some amendments made to that , but that's legislation .
Speaker 1The information I'm hearing and this is just hearsay , not a guarantee but that the CPI cost cap is looking pretty good . So that's part one of this announcement . Let's see what else I got here . Ah , yes , one other thing I'm hearing a lot of is that the owners , especially the local owners and again , I don't want to take them to the woodshed as much as I do , the corporate entities that are doing such price gouging Folks are saying you know , there's only one or two bad apples .
Speaker 1My thought has been and this is the same in any organization , I don't care who you are or what you're doing . If you're talking about any organization , there's only one or two bad apples . Okay , you're the organization , police it Clean up your own house . If you clean up your own act , we don't have to . The fact that this has been going on for years , that it's become this level of a problem , that we have a literal stampede of people acting and asking and pressuring to get this problem resolved . And my favorite bit from yesterday , my favorite bit of information I'm sharing and it ties into the point I'm trying to make Police your own house , clean up your own mess .
Speaker 1A park Forest Grove , oregon , contacted me and said hey , we just got our rent increase , but part of the rent increase and you're going to like this . If you're not familiar with manufactured homes , each year you get a notice that in a certain amount of time , by law good job you're going to get a rent increase of X amount . Usually it's going to be 10% or less . This had a little special add-on to it . We'll give you $26 a year if you don't participate in things like yesterday's event , if you don't protest , if you don't contact the media , if you don't write to the newspaper , in other words , if you give up your basic constitutional rights , we'll give you $26 . Just leave that on the dresser . So let's look at this $26 offer If you have . In my park there are 70 units . So you multiply 70 times 26 . That's $1,800 a month . Now , 12 months in a year takes us about to $21,000 a year .
Speaker 1But this management company doesn't manage one park . They manage hundreds of parks . Let's look at how many parks . Let's say 10 . For 10 parks to do this , it's going to cost them $219,000 approximately , plus or minus a few bucks . That's an awful lot of infrastructure repair . That's a lot of maintenance . That's a lot of improvements . That's a lot of positive additions to the home communities that could be done . Instead of trying to shut people up , folks , you are making a difference Again .
Speaker 1The point of this whole thing is to say yesterday was a resounding success . We got our message out loud and clear . Now's not the time to sit down and put your feet up . Now the actual work begins . We're going to be contacting those on the committee and hoping to bring them to our point of view . We're going to do that in a good , positive way , like I talked about , and we're going to now look at if it gets out of the House . It's going to go to the Senate and yesterday I should point out that from our area , senator Golden was there and testified in favor of the bill .
Speaker 1So this OSTA update concludes with a genuine and heartfelt thank you from me and the people here at Osta to all of you . We're all volunteers . I don't get paid , they don't get paid , you don't get paid . We are working for the common good of our community . Thank you for your hard work . You did it . That shows you what we can do when we all band together . Let's keep doing it . Let's organize our parks . Let's join Osta . Let's make sure we are communicating and keeping our facts straight and our powder dry . So look out the window . It's still snowing at my house , so please stay warm , be safe , careful on that ice out there . Come on back More Osta updates as the information comes available . Thank you .