Phil Dirkx: Neat Prop. 98 trick: Presto! No rent control

By Phil Dirkx

Iwonder if Proposition 98 on our June 3 ballot was written by magicians. It seems to contain one of the basic ingredients of magic tricks. Magicians call that ingredient “misdirection.”

Sometimes a magician may gesture dramatically with his right hand to keep us from noticing the activities of his left hand. That is misdirection.

When I was a boy I wanted to be a magician. I learned many standard tricks. I performed at dinners and parties and was sometimes paid.

My hero was Blackstone, who billed himself as the “World’s Foremost Magician.” A few times during the late 1940s he brought his full evening show to a city near us. I tried to sit as close to the stage as I could get.

Now this was Harry Blackstone Sr., not his son, whom you may have seen on TV. Blackstone Sr. had flowing white hair and a black mustache. He wore formal black evening clothes. He was a commanding presence.

One of his illusions depended entirely on misdirection. A small structure like a dog house stood on the stage. Its sign said, “Duck Inn.”

Blackstone’s assistants herded a small flock of ducks into the “Inn” and shut its door.

Blackstone gestured magically. His assistants immediately collapsed the “Inn” flat on the stage and dismantled it. Where did the ducks go?

The astonished audience had forgotten something that happened moments earlier. As the ducks were herded into the “Inn” one escaped. An assistant chased it across the stage. That was the misdirection.

I know because the next time I attended the show I watched the “Inn,” not the escaping duck. So I caught a glimpse of a box on wheels being yanked out of the back of the Inn by a rope. It hurtled behind the side curtains of the stage. That’s where the ducks went.

What has that to do with Proposition 98?

Well, Proposition 98 tries to fix our attention on an ominous- sounding thing called “eminent domain.” It is the power that state and local governments can use to make us sell them our property.

That might be OK if they want the land for highways, schools and the like. But sometimes they want to turn it over to private developers for shopping centers, hotels and such. Many of us think that’s an abuse of power.

Proposition 98 boldly pledges to save us from that abuse. So we may easily fail to notice it also intends to yank away our rent control laws. So I’ll vote “No” on Proposition 98.

Maybe rent control does need reforming. But it should be in a separate proposition.

That brings us to Proposition 99, which won’t alter any rent control laws. But it will protect many of us from government officials who would use eminent domain for private purposes. Unfortunately Proposition 99 only protects owner-occupied single-family homes.

But some protection is better than none. And farm and commercial land could be protected in future propositions. So on June 3 I’ll vote “Yes” on Proposition 99.