I appreciate your answer to my question. You said to examine the court documents, and I’d like to remind you that I started off saying, and I quote myself, “It is documented through local reporting and court documents…” Anil, I have already read them. You also invited me to interview your tenants and I thank you for the opportunity. Community testimony is exactly what I like to gather. It makes me wonder if you are listening to the very people of this community.

I decided to take you up on your suggestion to read more about you. Here’s what I have found, so far…

In a direct quote from a statement you sent to Lost Coast Outpost, you say, “As a business owner and problem-solver, I’ve gained practical experience managing budgets, improving properties, working with government agencies, and finding solutions to complex challenges. I want to bring that same results-oriented, accountable approach to City Hall.” (Lost Coast Outpost 7/24/26)

The only tangible example I can find of you “finding solutions to complex challenges,” involves you attempting to illegally raise the rent on your highly vulnerable tenants you claim to be helping. The public record shows you rescinded these attempts, but the fact still remains, that this was your first idea of how to fix the problem. This doesn’t feel like problem solving, it feels like passing the problem on to someone else. and in this case, that someone else is our struggling and most vulnerable residents.

Further investigation shows a callous disregard for your tenants that you claim to help: “‘If he (tenant Allen Moore) told you that [he was distraught], he’s being influenced by Don and Vanessa,’ [Anil] said, referring to Swall and Vachon. ‘If they keep doing that, then I might have to evict them.’” (Lost Coast Outpost 2/7/25) And going even further by stating you would find a reason to do so.

These are your words.

When your tenants pushed back on your illegal attempt to raise the rent, your first solution was to evict them. To me, these do not feel like the type of “solutions” Eureka needs, it feels like vindictiveness.

We care about our struggling neighbors and want to uplift them. Using them as a tool to fix what looks like a poor business decision and threatening to throw them out on the streets for pushing back, is not the kind of “problem solving” I want in City Hall.

But, maybe I have the wrong impression. So my question to you is: could you please point out a few real world examples of you being “a problem-solver” and you “finding solutions to complex challenges”? If you can cite past businesses you have owned and tell us about how your problem-solving skills helped them flourish, that would be very helpful. Preferably examples we can look up and verify independently.

Thank you.

— Evelyn Garber

Response

Anil Dwivedi

Thank you for the follow up. I genuinely appreciate that you are continuing the conversation, but I need to correct several important assumptions in your question.

You say you have read the court documents. I would respectfully encourage you to read not only the allegations and complaint, but also the documents, evidence, responses, and timeline submitted from my side. A complaint contains allegations. An allegation is not automatically an established fact simply because it appears in a court filing or is repeated in a news article.

You stated that the only tangible example you could find of my problem solving was “attempting to illegally raise the rent on highly vulnerable tenants.” That statement combines several different issues and presents a disputed allegation as a proven conclusion.

First, Hillsdale Apartments is a regular market rate apartment building NOT a low income. It is not the building I have dedicated to providing deeply affordable housing to extremely low income members of our community. Some individual Hillsdale residents may certainly be elderly, disabled, or have limited incomes, and they deserve dignity and respect like every tenant, but Hillsdale itself should not be confused with low income housing apartment building.

Second, the rent matter has a much more extensive factual and legal history than the headlines suggest and I have provided documentation concerning that timeline. I strongly disagree with the characterization that I simply decided to “illegally raise rents” and then threatened people when they objected. You are treating allegations and a reporter’s personal opinion as the final verdict.

Regarding the quotation about eviction: I dispute the way that conversation has been characterized and presented without its complete context. I was not saying that I could simply throw someone out because I disliked what they said or because they exercised their legal rights.

My position is straightforward: if a tenant is ever lawfully evicted from one of my properties, there must be a legitimate and legally permissible reason, and I believe a responsible landlord should first make all reasonable efforts to resolve the underlying problem before taking something as serious as someone’s housing away. That is how I operate.

You also asked for real world examples of my ability to solve difficult problems. I am glad you asked, because this is where I would rather have the conversation.

One of the most difficult problems in Eureka is something politicians, governments, nonprofits, and community organizations have discussed for years: How do we provide dignified housing that people with extremely limited incomes can actually afford?

I didn’t just talk about it. I have been working on it even as a private citizen.

Through another one of my Eureka properties, I have helped provide private, permanent housing to more than 40 extremely low-income individuals and families, including seniors, people with disabilities, and people who have experienced homelessness or serious housing instability.

Many live in renovated private studios or one bedroom apartments. The building has an elevator. Most utilities and services are included. Their average out-of-pocket housing cost is approximately around $300 per month.

Think about what that actually means.

In many cases, an entire private apartment with most utilities included costs these residents less out of pocket each month than some households pay just for utilities.

That is not a campaign proposal. It already exists.

You asked for something tangible and independently verifiable. I don’t know what could be more tangible than an entire building and more than 40 actual human beings whom I invited you to meet. That is independent verification. And this is exactly what I mean when I call myself a problem-solver. Yet allegations and controversy have received far more attention than this accomplishment. Have your questioned why that was not reported with any level of interest.

When I encounter a difficult problem, my instinct is to figure out whether there is a practical way to make something work not simply hold another meeting and explain why it cannot be done.

I am only 36 years old. I have built and operated businesses, managed employees and substantial budgets, purchased and rehabilitated properties, dealt with financing, contractors, insurance, government regulations and agencies, and taken distressed or difficult situations and worked to make them productive. 

Have I made decisions in business that I would approach differently today? Of course. Anyone who has actually built businesses, employed people, invested substantial amounts of their own money, and made thousands of real world decisions will have decisions they learn from.

Leadership is not pretending you have never made a mistake. Leadership is being willing to examine facts, correct course when necessary, take responsibility, and keep solving problems.

What I don’t accept is taking one highly disputed legal matter, presenting every allegation as proven fact, and then using that characterization to erase everything positive I have actually done in this community.

You said you care about our struggling neighbors. So do I and I have put my own resources behind that belief.

That is why I continue to extend the same invitation to you in good faith:

Don’t just read about my tenants. Meet them.
Don’t just read about my buildings. Visit them.
Don’t just read someone’s description of my record. Examine the record yourself.

Then decide whether I am a problem solver.

I am confident enough in what I have actually built and accomplished to let the facts, the properties, and the people themselves speak for me.

 

Anil Dwivedi

 

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