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I agree that the rise of the share economy is unstoppable, but I don't at all agree that this will or should be a free-for-all with no regulation. We just need

by geebee 14y ago

I agree that the rise of the share economy is unstoppable, but I don't at all agree that this will or should be a free-for-all with no regulation. We just need to catch up socially and legally with technology. To me, the biggest problem with the rise of AirBnB is in areas that have tourist appeal but are mainly populated with long term residents. People used to occasionally rent out their place, or just let people stay there for free, but there was almost always some kind of social connection. The removal of friction has allowed this to become far more widespread. I personally believe that it most definitely has the capacity for harm. I remember hearing about one incident recently in the california wine country where there are some fruit trees on a public easement. Mostly residential, but lots of appeal to tourists. The neighbors shared the trees as a commons, they'd take a bit, but leave plenty, and would informally contribute time and money to maintenance. One day, the trees were stripped, completely, of any fruit. It turned out that a couple of people renting a nearby house had stripped the trees. The house, which had formerly been occupied by a family with kids, was now a full time vacation rental (at great profit for the owner) and was advertising "fruit picking in the alleyway" as one of the wonderful activities available to short term renters. I know I risk sounding very trivial here, elevating little neighborhood squabbles about crab apples all out of proportion, but I think the story I heard really gets at the problem. Long term residents, to use a vulgar expression, have to sleep where they shit. Short termers don't. The non-legal self-corrective mechanisms that used to provide social harmony, things we weren't even aware of, may be badly disrupted but a very large number of short term residents. We're all willing to (or should be willing to) tolerate the occasional loud backyard party next door. But would we want to have that go on every night, all summer, from vacationers looking to maximize their fun? All of a sudden, we're using the law to regulate something that used to be managed less formally. The law is a terrible tool, way worse than just talking to your neighbors, but when you have a new neighbor every three days,it may be all you've got. And even when the short term vacationers are on their best behavior, there is still a loss. There is also absolutely a loss when families who would like to know and socialize with long term neighbors, especially with children, start to get pushed out because they can't compete on price with people who plan to airbnb the crap out the old neighborhood. I don't have a link to this, but I read once that an economist estimated that good relations with the neighbors were worth about $50,000. I remember PG writing about how new forms of property come into existence with new technologies, just as old ones can go away. We may only become aware that there was this vaguely defined property we owned now that airbnb has found a way to cash in. I really do think that the owner of many of these VRBOs are selling the neighborhood rather than the house itself, and they're harming the neighborhood in the process. I'm more than ok with some use of airbnb, and obviously it opens up new benefits as well. But I think it is very reasonable for communities to strongly resist widespread short term rentals in their neighborhoods.

temphn 14y ago
The United States government is currently responsible for funding people to move into previously peaceful communities and jack up the murder rate, with zero prior review of their propensity to commit violence. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/american-murder-mystery/306872/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/american... American Murder Mystery Why is crime rising in so many American cities? The answer implicates one of the most celebrated antipoverty programs of recent decades. ... About six months ago, they decided to put a hunch to the test. Janikowski merged his computer map of crime patterns with Betts’s map of Section 8 rentals. Where Janikowski saw a bunny rabbit, Betts saw a sideways horseshoe (“He has a better imagination,” she said). Otherwise, the match was near-perfect. On the merged map, dense violent-crime areas are shaded dark blue, and Section 8 addresses are represented by little red dots. All of the dark-blue areas are covered in little red dots, like bursts of gunfire. The rest of the city has almost no dots. Betts remembers her discomfort as she looked at the map. The couple had been musing about the connection for months, but they were amazed—and deflated—to see how perfectly the two data sets fit together. She knew right away that this would be a “hard thing to say or write.” Nobody in the antipoverty community and nobody in city leadership was going to welcome the news that the noble experiment that they’d been engaged in for the past decade had been bringing the city down, in ways they’d never expected. But the connection was too obvious to ignore, and Betts and Janikowski figured that the same thing must be happening all around the country. That's the US Government "helping". Why would anyone trust them to intercede in a dispute between neighbors?
- geebee 14y ago
  Like I said, the law isn't anyone's idea of a good first option. The law is where you go when talking to your neighbors has turned out to be useless, the lawbreaking is obvious, and the damage is great enough that you need to coerce someone into stopping. Also want to be fair here, - in general, I would not expect airbnb rentals to lead to this kind of dispute very often. But the gov't wouldn't be interceding in the minutiae of a dispute between neighbors here, they'd be creating and enforcing legislation around minimum lease duration, which I think is a much less objectionable role for government.

by geebee 14y ago

temphn 14y ago

The United States government is currently responsible for funding people to move into previously peaceful communities and jack up the murder rate, with zero prior review of their propensity to commit violence. http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/american-murder-mystery/306872/ http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2008/07/american... American Murder Mystery Why is crime rising in so many American cities? The answer implicates one of the most celebrated antipoverty programs of recent decades. ... About six months ago, they decided to put a hunch to the test. Janikowski merged his computer map of crime patterns with Betts’s map of Section 8 rentals. Where Janikowski saw a bunny rabbit, Betts saw a sideways horseshoe (“He has a better imagination,” she said). Otherwise, the match was near-perfect. On the merged map, dense violent-crime areas are shaded dark blue, and Section 8 addresses are represented by little red dots. All of the dark-blue areas are covered in little red dots, like bursts of gunfire. The rest of the city has almost no dots. Betts remembers her discomfort as she looked at the map. The couple had been musing about the connection for months, but they were amazed—and deflated—to see how perfectly the two data sets fit together. She knew right away that this would be a “hard thing to say or write.” Nobody in the antipoverty community and nobody in city leadership was going to welcome the news that the noble experiment that they’d been engaged in for the past decade had been bringing the city down, in ways they’d never expected. But the connection was too obvious to ignore, and Betts and Janikowski figured that the same thing must be happening all around the country. That's the US Government "helping". Why would anyone trust them to intercede in a dispute between neighbors?

geebee 14y ago
Like I said, the law isn't anyone's idea of a good first option. The law is where you go when talking to your neighbors has turned out to be useless, the lawbreaking is obvious, and the damage is great enough that you need to coerce someone into stopping. Also want to be fair here, - in general, I would not expect airbnb rentals to lead to this kind of dispute very often. But the gov't wouldn't be interceding in the minutiae of a dispute between neighbors here, they'd be creating and enforcing legislation around minimum lease duration, which I think is a much less objectionable role for government.